A Werribee man has admitted a funny feeling led him to purchasing a top prize winning Instant Scratch-Its ticket – the same feeling he had when he won a division one lottery prize a decade ago.
The winning $10 Live the Life ticket was purchased at Manor Lakes News & Lotto, Shop 14, Manor Lakes Central, 455 Ballan Rd, Manor Lakes.
Speaking with an official from the Lott today, the overjoyed man relayed how he came to discover his thrilling windfall of $1,000 a week for 10 years.
“How exciting! It’s just insane. It’s completely insane!” he laughed.
“You know I won division one in the lottery about ten years ago. I had a funny feeling I was going to win then, and I had the exact same feeling with this ticket!
“It’s such an amazing feeling.
“My partner actually scratched it. He was scratching it on the couch and he said to me ‘Come over, I am scared!’.
“I thought something bad had happened, but he looked up at me and he said ‘I think we’ve f***ing won!’.
“My heart stopped!
“We checked the ticket over and over again.
“Once we realised we really had won, he hopped off the couch and we just started screaming and jumping up and down.
“It’s funny because I told Raj, the owner of Manor Lakes News & Lotto, that he was going to sell us a top prize winner and he did!
“I haven’t stopped smiling since I found out.
“We are in lockdown so we haven’t been able to do much. We did have a few drinks, but when we can do more, we will go out for a big dinner with all of our friends and shout them!”
When asked how he planned to enjoy his instant win, the elated man said he already knew exactly what he was going to do.
“We have decided we are going to use a lot of it for travel, both in Australia and overseas,” he explained.
“It’ll be business class when we go on our next overseas trip!
“We also want to pay off our mortgage and do some renovations on the house.”
Manor Lakes News & Lotto owner Raj Sharma said he couldn’t be happier for his winner.
“They are such a lovely couple,” he said.
“I am so happy for them. This win could not have happened to better people!
“When they came in, they were so excited. They were jumping up and down. Everyone in the store was so happy for them and congratulating them.
“It was really so special to be a part of that winning moment.
“This is the first major win since I took ownership three years ago, so I am so excited.
“We’ve actually had twelve division two wins in that time as well.
“Hopefully this top prize win is the start of a winning streak and we deliver more major prize wins to our customers.”
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.