A Rockhampton manâs festive season just got a whole lot brighter after he realised his â$10,000â Instant Scratch-Its prize was actually a $100,000 pay day.
The Central Queenslanderâs winning $5 Christmas Edition Crosswords ticket was purchased at Northside Plaza News, Northside Plaza, Shop/23 Musgrave St, Berserker.
The top prize win comes after a Rockhampton couple received the life-changing phone call last Thursday night, revealing they scored $50 million in the $100 million Powerball draw.
When an official from The Lott reached out to confirm his instant bounty, the cheerful man shared he was looking forward to treating himself to an early Christmas present - a shiny new car.
âItâs unreal!â he cheered.
âIâve been playing the Crosswords Instant Scratch-Its ticket for years now â Itâs my go-to!
âWhen I first checked over my ticket, I thought Iâd won $10,000, and I was pretty stoked. It wasnât until my wife looked at it and started screaming that I realised Iâd won more.
âNever would I have imagined $100,000!
âIt feels like an early Christmas present.
âIâve been wanting to get a new car for a while, so I can finally go car shopping now.
âI might even treat myself to a nicer car than I first intended.
âWeâll be celebrating the win all holiday season. Thank you!â
Northside Plaza News owner Jarrod Black shared he was thrilled to hear a local customer had won $100,000 just in time for Christmas.
âItâs very exciting to hear another Rockhampton local win following the big Powerball draw last week,â he said.
âThey say things happen in threes, so hopefully we can sell another winning ticket to a local soon.
âWeâve sold many division one winning tickets over the years, but not as many top-prize-winning Instant Scratch-Its tickets.
âCongratulations to our lucky customer! Weâre all very excited for you and we hope you enjoy your win this Christmas.â
In FY24, there were 143 Instant Scratch-Its top prize winners across The Lottâs jurisdictions who collectively took home more than $12.12 million in top prizes.
During this same time, Instant Scratch-Its players enjoyed more than 26.4 million wins across all prize tiers worth more than $249.65 million. This equates to more than half a million winners and more than $4.8 million won on Instant Scratch-Its each week.
Every month, Instant Scratch-Itsâ 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 monthâs 2nd Chance Draw.
The official home of Australiaâs lotteries, The Lott operates and markets Australiaâs leading lottery games customers know and love creating everyday winners, winning every day.
In FY24, more than 132.8 million winners took home more than $4.4 billion in prize money from their favourite games at The Lott, including Saturday Gold Lotto, Weekday Windfall, Powerball, Oz Lotto, Set for Life, Lucky Lotteries, Keno (SA), Super 66, Lotto Strike and Instant Scratch-Its.
Last financial year, Australiaâs official lotteries contributed more than $1.8 billion via state lottery taxes and donations to help community initiatives, such as hospitals, health research, disaster relief and education.