A Canberra man has admitted if his local newsagency hadn’t double checked his Instant Scratch-Its ticket, he would’ve thrown away a $10,000 prize.
The top prize winning $1 Sheep Thrills ticket was purchased at Manuka Newsagency, 38 Franklin Street, Manuka.
Sharing his excitement with an official from The Lott this morning, the overjoyed ACT resident explained how he came to discover his $10,000 win.
“I feel very lucky!” he laughed.
“I had scratched the ticket and checked it, but I didn’t think it had won anything. I thought I had only two $10,000 symbols, rather than three.
“So when I went back to the outlet to buy a lottery ticket, I handed the Instant Scratch-Its ticket to the lady at the counter and said ‘It’s not a winner, you can throw it away’ and I walked out of the shop.
“But then she yelled out to me as I walking out of the shop and said ‘hey, you’ll want to keep hold of this!’ and told me it was a winner.
“It was quite the surprise! I’m not used to seeing three $10,000 symbols on a ticket, so I didn’t even realise I’d won.
“I never buy Instant Scratch-Its tickets either, so it really does feel lucky!
“I was in such a great mood afterwards, so I went out for a nice lunch with my wife to celebrate.
“It was really lovely.”
When asked how he planned to enjoy his instant prize, the stoked bloke had one thing on his mind.
“I have been wanting to get myself a new car, so that’s what I am going to do,” he said.
Manuka Newsagency owner Matt Nobbs said he couldn’t be happier for the winning customer.
“It is very good,” he said.
“The winner actually called us a few days later to thank our employee, Rhonda, who was the one who told him the ticket was a winner and not to throw it out.
“He is a lovely man and we are really happy for him!
“We wish him all the best with his prize.
“Hopefully this is the start of a winning streak, because it’s a great to be able to deliver a big win to a customer!”
In 2020, there were 177 Instant Scratch-Its top prize winners across The Lott’s jurisdictions who collectively took home more than $16 million in top prizes.
During this same time, Instant Scratch-Its players enjoyed more than 32.3 million wins across all prize tiers worth more than $281.17 million. This equates to more than three-quarters of a million dollars won on Instant Scratch-Its every day.
