Initially mistaking it for spam, a Bonnet Bay man admits he almost deleted and disregarded the email informing him he won $100,000 in the recent Lucky Lotteries draw.
The Southern Sydney winner won the guaranteed 1st Prize of $100,000 in Lucky Lotteries Super Jackpot draw 10485, drawn Monday 23 August 2021.
As well as winning the 1st Prize, the New South Wales man also won a consolation prize of $1,000, boosting his total windfall to $101,000.
When an official from The Lott finally got a hold of the winner to confirm the news, he was still recovering from the revelation of his windfall.
“I can’t believe it! Thank you very much,” he exclaimed.
“Yesterday morning, I received an email to notify me that I won a major lottery prize, but I thought it was a scam. I was close to blocking the email, until I realised it had a logo and other features that made me think, ‘this might be real’.
“My wife and I were inspecting the email closely, which led us to looking up the phone number of The Lott to see if it matched. My wife couldn’t believe it.
“I’ve been purchasing lottery tickets for close to 50 years. This win is quite an exceptional prize in comparison to my previous wins!
“It came as a complete surprise! My mind is all over the place!”
The euphoric winner said he already had a few plans for his prize.
“I’m not sure how I will celebrate the win at this point, but I know the prize will mostly go towards house improvements and maybe travel in the future,” he revealed.
“My wife and I had plans to go on certain trips previously, when overseas countries open up, of course.”
His winning entry of 10 consecutive numbers was purchased at Sutherland Newsagency, 796 Old Princes Highway, Sutherland.
Sutherland Newsagency team member Eileen Baker said she was feeling a sense of pride in selling a major lottery prize.
“This is our first Lucky Lotteries 1st Prize entry we have ever sold!” she exclaimed.
“Our customers will be so happy to hear the ticket was sold through us. We can’t wait to tell them.
“Congratulations to the fortunate winner. You really have to be in it for your chance to win it!”
The Lucky Lotteries Mega Jackpot prize is now $2.68 million for draw 1542, while the Lucky Lotteries Super Jackpot prize is now $1.93 million for draw 10486.
In the 12 months to 30 June 2021, 136 Lucky Lotteries 1st Prize and Jackpot winning entries across Australia won more than $46.09 million.
During this time, the biggest Lucky Lotteries prize was won by a Coolangatta man who a Mega Jackpot prize of $9.41 million in May 2021.