A Bendigo woman was moved to tears of happiness when her bad day quickly turned around in the best way possible after scratching her way to a top prize of $500,000 on an Instant Scratch-Its ticket.
The Victorian resident’s winning $20 Instant Scratch-Its ticket was purchased at Champions Lotto Long Gully, 3 Wood Street, Long Gully.
When an official from The Lott confirmed her prize, the winning woman shared she had almost changed her mind when purchasing the ticket but decided to ‘listen to her gut’.
“I’m over the moon!” she cheered.
“I wasn’t expecting to win at all. I’m so grateful.
“I bought the ticket as a little pick-me-up because I was having a really bad day.
“It certainly flipped my day upside down.
“I was contemplating whether I should get this specific ticket or another one but I’m so glad I went with my initial choice!
“I rang my mum crying, and she thought something was wrong.
“It’s amazing and it couldn’t have come at a better time.”
With half a million dollars about to boost her bank account, the winning woman had a couple of things come to mind on how she’d like to use her instant fortune.
“I’ll be able to finally secure a house now!” she said.
“I’ll invest some too and set us up for the future.
“Of course, I’ll have to go out for tea with family to celebrate and pass on the love.”
Champions Lotto Long Gully team member Trish Ryan said she and the team were thrilled to sell a top prize-winning Instant Scratch-Its ticket.
“It was lovely news to receive about our store. We feel so lucky to be a part of someone’s life-enhancing moment,” she said.
“Everybody has been buzzing with excitement. Both team members and customers alike have been talking about it and buying tickets.
“We can’t thank everybody enough for the support and hope we sell another top prize-winning ticket soon.
“A big congratulations to the winning woman who was so grateful and kind. We’re so happy it went to someone nice, and we wish you all the best with your prize."
In FY24, there were 143 Instant Scratch-Its top prize winners across The Lott’s jurisdictions who collectively took home more than $12.12 million in top prizes.
During this same time, Instant Scratch-Its players enjoyed more than 26.4 million wins across all prize tiers worth more than $249.65 million. This equates to more than half a million winners and more than $4.8 million won on Instant Scratch-Its each week.
Every month, Instant Scratch-Its’ 2nd Chance Draw gives you another chance to turn your eligible non-winning Instant Scratch-Its into a winner. Visit thelott.com to enter this month’s 2nd Chance Draw.
The official home of Australia’s lotteries, The Lott operates and markets Australia’s leading lottery games customers know and love creating everyday winners, winning every day.
In FY24, more than 132.8 million winners took home more than $4.4 billion in prize money from their favourite games at The Lott, including TattsLotto, Weekday Windfall, Powerball, Oz Lotto, Set for Life, Lucky Lotteries, Keno (SA), Super 66, Lotto Strike and Instant Scratch-Its.
Last financial year, Australia’s official lotteries contributed more than $1.8 billion via state lottery taxes and donations to help community initiatives, such as hospitals, health research, disaster relief and education.
