Four days after the winning numbers were drawn, a Melbourne dad finally discovered he was the mystery player who pocketed the $8 million jackpot in last week’s Oz Lotto draw.
The stunned Victorian held the only division one winning entry nationally in Oz Lotto draw 1601, drawn Tuesday 22 October 2024. He took home $8 million.
As the winning entry was unregistered, officials from The Lott had no way of contacting the ticketholder and had to wait for them to check their ticket.
“I only discovered it on Saturday morning!” the winning man revealed when speaking to an official from The Lott.
“I usually only check my tickets on a Saturday, and that’s what I did when I woke up on the weekend.
“The first ticket I scanned was the Oz Lotto ticket. I had to do a double-take! I was like, ‘What?! What?! What?!’.
“I don’t know how many double-takes I’ve done since. I sent a screenshot to my adult son, and he didn’t believe me at first. He does now!
“I think I only had about three hours’ sleep on Saturday night – my brain wouldn’t stop ticking over the possibilities.
“You have no idea what this means to me and my family.
“I want to give my kids a kickstart and want to see them set up for life.
“I want to be smart with the money – invest it so I don’t have to worry about the future.”
The winning entry was purchased at Central Station News, Shop Lg 13, Melbourne Central, 211 La Trobe Street, Melbourne.
Central Station News owner Shuxia Tang said she was thrilled the Oz Lotto winner had been united with their prize. “We are super excited for our winner. This is the biggest division one winning entry that we’ve ever sold, and we’ve sold nine division one wins since 2009!” she said.
“The last time we sold a division one winning entry was earlier this year in March, and it was a syndicate entry. It’s so great to see our outlet continue to sell division one winning entries!
“Congratulations to the very blessed division one winner!”
The winning numbers in Oz Lotto draw 1601 on Tuesday 22 October 2024 were 17, 1, 28, 16, 24, 26 and 2, while the supplementary numbers were 47, 4 and 41.
Across Australia, there was one division one winning entry in Oz Lotto draw 1601 – one in Victoria.
The Lott’s division one winning tally has now reached 374 so far in 2024, including 138 won by Tatts customers.
In FY24, 16 Oz Lotto division one winning across Australia collectively won more than $323 million.
During this time, Oz Lotto offered a $90 million jackpot – the second biggest in the game’s 30-year history – which was shared by three New South Wales winners.
Of the 16 Oz Lotto division one winning entries in FY24, 10 landed in New South Wales, three in Queensland, and one each Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia.