A Fullarton man has taken three days to discover he scored a $1.5 million Saturday X Lotto division one prize, explaining the festive season and holiday period meant he got his days all mixed up.
The thrilled winner held one of the 19 division one winning entries nationally in Saturday X Lotto draw 4117, drawn Saturday 2 January 2020. Each entry takes home a division one prize worth $1,578,947.37.
Sharing his excitement with an official from The Lott this morning, the winner recounted the moment he discovered the life-changing news.
“I’ve been wide awake since I checked my ticket at 4am this morning!” he exclaimed.
“The last few days have been a bit of a blur with the festive season and the public holidays. I have no idea what day it is and forgot to check my ticket. My days were all mixed up!
“I was having trouble sleeping, so when I woke up at 4am I remembered to check my ticket.
“I was surprised when I saw I had won $1.5 million!
“I was playing pretty regularly for a few years but I thought to myself, ‘you’ll have better luck if you stop trying to win it,’ so I didn’t play every week for a while.
“I started playing every now and then a few months ago and it was the best thing I ever did!”
When asked how he planned to enjoy his prize, the small-business owner said it would help him fast-track his retirement plans.
“I’ve been working hard my whole life and I’ve had enough! I’m going to retire!” he declared.
“I was worried about not having enough super to retire when I wanted to but now I can.
“It’s not easy running your own business but I’ve been able to help other people along the way, so I think this win is in a bit of karma coming back to me. Good things come to those who wait!
“I’ll set the kids up a bit, buy an investment property and I can’t wait to travel again.
“I love exploring places overseas and I really enjoy experiencing other people’s cultures so I can’t wait until I can do that again.
“Whenever you come back from overseas, you realise how lucky you are to be in Australia, so I’m happy here for now.”
The winning entry was purchased at Arkaba Hotel Motel, 150 Glen Osmond Road, Fullarton.
Arkaba Hotel Motel Group Gaming Manager Michelle Rowley said she was every excited to hear one of her customers had won division one.
“This is the first division one winning entry we’ve ever sold so we are thrilled!” she exclaimed.
“We think our customers will be happy we have had a win and we’re a lucky outlet.
“Congratulations to our winner! We hope to celebrate with you soon.”
The winning numbers in Saturday X Lotto draw 4117 on 2 January 2021 were 7, 5, 16, 44, 14 and 17, while the supplementary numbers were 26 and 31.
Across Australia, there were 19 division one winning entries in Saturday X Lotto draw 4117 – six in Victoria, four in New South Wales, three each in South Australia and Western Australia, two in Queensland and one in Tasmania.
The Lott’s division one winning tally has now reached 227 so far this financial year, including 23 won by SA Lotteries customers.
In 2020, Saturday X Lotto created 122 millionaires across Australia.
During this time, there were 312 division one winning in Saturday X Lotto entries across Australia, which collectively won more than $355.13 million.