After six sleepless nights, a Sydney man has come forward to claim his $20 million Powerball prize from last Thursday’s draw.
The tired, but happy winner held the only division one winning entry across Australia in Powerball draw 1193, drawn Thursday 28 March 2019. He took home the entire division one jackpot prize of $20 million.
The winning ticket was unregistered, so NSW Lotteries officials were unable to contact the winner to break the life-changing news and had to wait for him to come forward to claim his prize.
Sharing his joy with a NSW Lotteries official this morning, the ecstatic winner confessed he’d barely slept a wink since discovering the news.
“I checked my numbers last night Thursday night, so I’ve known since then. I don’t think I’ve slept since!” he laughed.
“I’ve found it hard to sleep at night. There have been lots of cups of coffee over the last few days but it’s great!
“I don’t play every week – just every now and again. I stopped at Woolworths Preston to get petrol so I just grabbed an entry while I was there.”
The over-the-moon winner also recounted how he came to choose his eight winning numbers and the all-important Powerball number.
“I dreamt of these numbers a few years back, and I’ve kept playing them on Powerball ever since and they finally came up!” he explained.
“I dreamt these numbers about thirty years ago. It was a very vivid dream and I saw every number in plain sight.
“So I thought I’d better play them on the lottery. I didn’t know which game to play but the amount of numbers I saw in the dream worked well with Powerball so I guess that dream paid off!”
When asked how he planned to spend his multi-million dollar windfall, the elated winner revealed he had some humble ideas.
“We are going to surprise our family. We haven’t told anyone just yet!” he confessed.
“I’ll be investing some and spending some. We’ll be keeping it pretty low key.
“We’ve always wanted to do a bit of a road trip around Australia and visit friends along the way.
“It’s going to be great!”
The winning Powerball entry was purchased at Woolworths Petrol-Prestons, Corner Camden Valley Way & Ash Road, Prestons.
In 2018, there were 16 Powerball division one winning entries nationally that collectively took home $367 million. During this time, the biggest individual Powerball prize was $60 million, won by a man from Burleigh Heads in November.
The winning numbers in Powerball draw 1193 on Thursday 28 March 2019 were 4, 34, 25, 27, 30, 26, and 5, while the all-important Powerball number was 18.
Across Australia there was only one division one winning entry in Powerball draw 1193, in New South Wales.
The Lott’s division one winning tally has now reached 89 so far this financial year, including 21 won by NSW Lotteries customers.
