A Craigmore couple’s five-year Christmas tradition of gifting each other personalised advent calendars has landed them a $10,000 Instant Scratch-Its windfall.
Their top prize winning $1 Christmas Gift Instant Scratch-Its ticket was purchased at Blakeview Newsagency, Blake’s Crossing Shopping Centre, Shop 10 / 63 – 83 Main Terrace, Blakeview.
Speaking with an official from The Lott, the winning South Australian woman relayed the moments leading up to their special win.
“We’re so happy! I cried when I realised it was a winner,” she laughed.
“Every holiday season, my husband and I make personalised advent calendars for each other filled with Instant Scratch-Its tickets, little trinkets and other goodies.
“As it was a new day, he had opened it up and scratched the Instant Scratch-Its ticket that was inside.
“He looked at me and asked if it was fake. I couldn’t believe it. He had scratched $10,000! It was a winner!
“It was past midnight and we just kept checking to see if it was real. We couldn’t sleep from the excitement!
“The next day, I went straight to the newsagency that I purchased the Instant Scratch-Its ticket from. The team member looked at me in disbelief and said, ‘it’s a winner!’.
“I was trying to keep it together and not cry in the newsagency. As soon as I hopped into the car, I started crying!”
When asked how they might enjoy their newfound wealth, the dynamic duo said the prize would go towards renovations.
“We’ve been wanting to complete some renovations around the house, so this will be a big help,” she said.
“The win has come just in time for Christmas! We might celebrate tonight with a glass of bubbly.”
Blakeview Newsagency co-owner Peter Steven said the team were overwhelmed and very happy for the customer.
“We’ve never sold a top prize Instant Scratch-Its ticket before, so this is a big milestone for us,” he said.
“We can just imagine our customers will be very happy to hear about the win!
“Congratulations to our winner, and we would like to wish her and her family all the best. There’s no doubt they’ll be having a very merry Christmas.”
In FY21, there were 176 Instant Scratch-Its top prize winners across The Lott’s jurisdictions who collectively took home more than $14.17 million in top prizes.
During this same time, Instant Scratch-Its players enjoyed more than 31.2 million wins across all prize tiers worth more than $274.31 million. This equates to more than $750,000 won on Instant Scratch-Its every day.