A Maranoa man admits he received the shock of his life when he grabbed an Instant Scratch-Its ticket on a whim, and revealed a $1 million windfall.
The top prize-winning Instant Scratch-Its ticket was purchased at Roma Newsagency, 59 McDowall Street, Roma.
Speaking with an official from The Lott, the winning man confessed he was sceptical of the ticket’s authenticity, thinking it impossible he would have won the major prize.
“Honestly, until the moment I had it verified, I didn’t allow myself to believe it was real,” he laughed.
“Since then, I’ve just been in disbelief. It’s one of those things that you never expect will happen to you.
“I’ve played Instant Scratch-Its most of my life, and it’s always been great fun. Now that I’ve actually won, I can’t take the smile off my face.
“I won’t stop working yet, but it’s certainly going to make retiring a simpler task.
“I recently bought a home, so it will allow me to renovate that too.
“A long overdue holiday is also in order I think.
“Honestly, I’m just looking forward to taking it a little easier and enjoying life one day at a time.”
The Roma Newsagency Manager Vicki Hasted said the team were thrilled for their winner and wished him all the best with his prize.
“Good on him! That’s incredible and such great news,” she said.
“It’s our first million-dollar winner ever which is fantastic and there’s been a real buzz around the store.
“I couldn’t believe it when I found out!
“We want to say congratulations have a fantastic life, this will certainly help.”
In 2021, there were 157 Instant Scratch-Its top prize winners across The Lott’s jurisdictions who collectively took home more than $10 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 $256.26 million. This equates to almost three-quarters of a million dollars won on Instant Scratch-Its every day.
