A Lockyer Valley vet has her love of animals and her fear of heights to thank for scratching one of the top prizes of $10,000 on a $1 Sheep Thrills Instant Scratch-Its ticket.
The winning Instant Scratch-Its ticket was purchased at Gatton News, Gifts and Stationery, Shop 6, 6 Railway Street, Gatton.
Sharing her excitement with an official from The Lott, the overjoyed winner explained how she came to hold the winning ticket.
“Oh my goodness! I’m still in shock! I’m absolutely thrilled. It was the best present to myself ever!” she laughed.
“I was in the store buying something else, and I needed to spend $5 to meet the minimum card payment, so I glanced over at the scratchies and saw the cute ticket with sheep on a rollercoaster.
“I thought to myself, ‘I’m a vet, so I should buy the ticket with an animal on it’. I got the first one off the roll.
“I scratched it, and when I saw I had won $10,000, I said to myself ‘am I seeing what I think I’m seeing?’.
“It was incredible! I never thought it would happen to me and I’d be a winner.
“There were so many things pointing me to this winning ticket, you wouldn’t believe it.
“The ticket also reminded me of my friend and I on a rollercoaster when I was in the US. I’m terrified of heights, but she made me go on it.
“On the ticket, there was one scared sheep, and one terrified sheep and I have a picture just like that of us at home.
“I was still thinking about that friend when I got home, so I opened my purse and pulled out a dime coin I had been keeping in there as a souvenir and used it to scratch the prize.
“She was the first person I told when I won. She nearly wet herself laughing when I told her the sheep reminded me of her.”
When asked how the ecstatic winner planned to enjoy her instant windfall, she revealed she already splurged on some pampering.
“It’s just a blessing right before Christmas! I’ve already used it to do a little bit of shopping,” she explained.
“I’ve bought a few treats to pamper myself with, but I’ll be responsible with the rest of it.
“I’m going to put it towards a house deposit. It’s shaved a year off my five-year goal to own a house, so that’s incredible!”
Gatton News, Gifts & Stationery team member Shandelle Dallinger team member said she was thrilled her outlet had sold a top prize.
“That’s great news! How great for our customer!” she exclaimed.
“We’ve sold a few major lottery prizes in the past, but I think this is the first Instant Scratch-Its top prize we’ve sold.
“We’ll be telling all of our regulars. They will be thrilled to hear it’s gone to a local.
“Congratulations to our winner! We wish her all the best!”
Between 1 July 2019 and 30 June 2020, there were 151 Instant Scratch-Its top prize winners across The Lott’s jurisdictions who collectively took home more than $11.8 million in top prizes.
During this same time, Instant Scratch-Its players enjoyed more than 29.1 million wins across all prize tiers worth more than $235.25 million. This equates to more than half a million dollars won on Instant Scratch-Its every day.