A Cunnamulla couple has admitted they hid their $100,000 winning Instant Scratch-Its ticket in a zip lock bag, sealed inside an envelope and hidden under the carpet beneath their dining table to ensure it was kept safe and sound.
The top prize winning $5 Crosswords Blossoms ticket was purchased at Cunnamulla Newsagency, 18 Stockyard Street, Cunnamulla.
Sharing their joy with an official from The Lott this afternoon, the overjoyed winners explained how their win came to be.
“My husband usually buys a ticket every now and again on his way home from work and then he gives it to me to scratch,” the winning woman explained.
“We just started this little tradition a few months ago.
“When I scratched the ticket and realised we had all 10 words, I had to get my family to check it to be sure. Then I wrote all the words out for a triple check!
“I still wasn’t convinced, so I went down to the newsagency and they couldn’t confirm what the prize was, but they just said that it was too big to pay.
“I was so anxious waiting to find out what the prize was!
“We couldn’t go to Brisbane to visit The Lott head office straight away, so I had to keep the ticket hidden because I didn’t want to lose it!
“At first, I was considering buying a little safe to store it in. But I thought that was a bit obvious if someone did break in.
“Instead, I put it in a zip lock bag, then I put it inside a sealed envelope. After that I lifted up some carpet under our dining table and hid it under there! I thought that was a pretty good spot to hide it!
“So then when I went into the head office and they confirmed it, I felt complete relief! I couldn’t stop shaking.
“To hear that it was real just put my mind at complete ease! It’s amazing.”
When asked how the couple intended to spend their prize, the elated woman said they’d spent the weekend making plans.
“We are nearing retirement, so it will definitely come in handy,” she shared.
“We will help our family out as well and we want to buy a new house.
“I had a big celebratory dinner with all of my family on the weekend to celebrate too!”
Cunnamulla Newsagency owner Merry Higgins said she was delighted to have made some of her regular customers major prize winners.
“We are just so excited, especially because they’re locals,” she said.
“When they came into our shop to check the ticket, they said they hadn’t been able to sleep because they were anxiously waiting for the news to be confirmed. Well that night, I couldn’t sleep a wink either because I was also anxious for them!
“I am so glad they now know it’s all real! What an incredible win for them.
“They are such great, loyal customers, so we really couldn’t be happier for them! They very much deserve this win and we are celebrating alongside them.
“A big win like this isn’t just great for the winners, but also our store and our local community.
“Hopefully we can deliver more wins to our customers soon!”
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.
