It still may be more than two weeks away, but this year’s Melbourne Cup has already helped an Edgecliff woman become a winner after she scored $250,000 on her Instant Scratch-Its ticket.
Her top prize winning $10 Winner’s Club ticket was purchased at Eastpoint Newsagency, Eastpoint Food Fair, 251 New South Head Road, Edgecliff.
“This ticket caught my eye, and with Melbourne Cup coming up, I thought, ‘gosh, I’ll have to be in that’,” she told an official from The Lott.
“That’s how I came to hold the ticket. It said, “Winner’s Club” and I wanted to be in the Winner’s Club and here I am!
“I scratched it later that night. I sort of held my breath. I couldn’t quite believe it.
“After I’d done the first row and then another row, I could see all the cup symbols lined up on the ticket. I thought I must be doing something wrong as all the rows had the same cup symbol.
“I’m really thrilled to have won. I might have some Moet or something to celebrate.
“I’ve got various people I’d like to give something to, just a bit to give them a lift. Because of COVID, everybody has stretched themselves a bit further and there hasn’t been much joy around.
“I also hope to go on a trip sometime next year. That would be nice!”
Eastpoint Newsagency owner Chong Yon Han said he was thrilled one of his customers had won big.
“I’m the one that gave her the ticket,” he laughed.
“She was so very happy to have won. It’s wonderful. We’re very happy for her.
“We’ve had a few big wins over the years and hope to do it again soon.”
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.