05 April 24

Browns Plains pensioners’ heartwarming tale: $100,000 Instant Scratch-Its win brings family closer together

Instant ScratchIts
SNAPSHOT
  • In a heartwarming turn of events, a retired couple from Browns Plains is embarking on an unforgettable journey to be closer to their beloved grandchildren after bagging $100,000 on an Instant Scratch-Its ticket.
  • The $5 Instant Scratch-Its ticket was purchased at Nextra Browns Plains, Shop Gf066, Grand Plaza Shopping Centre, 27-49 Browns Plains Road, Browns Plains.

By Khat McIntyre-Intrachai

Updated 5 April 2024 - 10:27 am,

first published at 5 April 2024 - 10:27 am

In a heartwarming turn of events, a retired couple from Browns Plains is embarking on an unforgettable journey to be closer to their beloved grandchildren after bagging $100,000 on an Instant Scratch-Its ticket.

The $5 Instant Scratch-Its ticket was purchased at Nextra Browns Plains, Shop Gf066, Grand Plaza Shopping Centre, 27-49 Browns Plains Road, Browns Plains.

The Queensland grandparents relayed how the life-changing win came about when an official from The Lott reached out to them.

“It was quite freaky actually!” the winning husband exclaimed.

“My wife was the one who bought it. She went into the newsagency, bought her Lotto tickets, and left.

“But randomly, she turned around because she was feeling lucky. So, she walked back in and bought two Instant Scratch-Its tickets.

“When she realised, she held a winning ticket, she couldn’t stop shaking and shaking but I stayed calm because I didn’t want to get our hopes up in case it was a mistake or something.

“This was on Thursday, so because of the Easter long weekend, we had to wait until Tuesday to confirm it was really true.

“In the meantime, my wife was feeling sick with anticipation, and my kids were even panicking, too, haha!

“We’ve had a shocking past two years, especially as disability pensioners, but this has really brightened everything up.

“We’re just over the moon and so incredibly grateful.

“It’s going to allow us to move closer to our grandkids, something we’ve been wanting to do for a long while now.”

Nextra Browns Plains manager Christine Winslett said she and the team were overjoyed to hear their outlet had sold a top prize-winning Instant Scratch-Its ticket to a local customer.

“We’re thrilled! The winning woman was lovely. She bought the ticket because she was feeling lucky,” she said.

“She came in later, and when the win was confirmed, she burst into tears!

“Some people are doing it tough at the moment so it’s wonderful to see the money go where it’s needed.

“And what a great Easter gift too!

“We might be on a winning streak here as we sold a top prize winning Instant Scratch-Its ticket in February as well as a division two entry in Powerball worth $110,000!”

“Our customers are very excited, and we hope we can crown one of them as another big winner soon!”

In 2023, there were 144 Instant Scratch-Its top prize winners across The Lott’s jurisdictions who collectively took home more than $12.1 million in top prizes.

During this same time, Instant Scratch-Its players enjoyed more than 26.76 million wins across all prize tiers worth more than $249.17 million. This equates to more than half a million winners a week and about $700,000 won on Instant Scratch-Its every day.

Every month, Instant Scratch-Its’ 2nd Chance Draw gives you another chance to turn your eligible non-winning Instant Scratch-Its into a winner. Visit thelott.com to enter this month’s 2nd Chance Draw.

The official home of Australia’s lotteries, The Lott operates and markets Australia’s leading lottery games customers know and love creating everyday winners, winning every day.

In 2023, more than 122.7 million wins took home more than $3.76 billion in prize money from their favourite games at The Lott, including Saturday Gold Lotto, Monday & Wednesday Gold Lotto, Powerball, Oz Lotto, Set for Life, Lucky Lotteries, Keno (SA), Super 66, Lotto Strike and Instant Scratch-Its.

Last financial year, Australia’s official lotteries contributed more than $1.6 billion via state lottery taxes and donations to help community initiatives, such as hospitals, health research, disaster relief and education.