A retired Launceston man has declared he’s not letting his age get in the way, with plans to party like he’s in his 20s to celebrate scoring an $834,000 TattsLotto division one win.
The Tasmanian held one of the seven division one winning entries in TattsLotto draw 4175, drawn Saturday 24 July 2021. Each division one winning entry took home an $834,643.56 prize.
However, the winning entry was unregistered, which meant officials from The Lott had no way of contacting the winner to break the life-changing news. Instead, they had to wait for the ticketholder to come forward to claim their prize.
Today, the overjoyed man explained why he hadn’t claimed his prize sooner.
“It’s a long story! I am actually very lucky to have this ticket still,” he laughed when speaking with an official from The Lott.
“I had completely forgotten about it, and then yesterday I’d woken up and gone to grab something out of my bedside table when I found all of this crumpled paper.
“I had a look, and it was a few lottery tickets I’d bought the week before! I was actually about to throw them in the bin, thinking they were just receipts.
“Well, I quickly had a look at the winning numbers while I was in bed, and that’s when I realised I’d won division one.
“I almost fell out of the bloody bed!
“I just can’t believe it! This is bloody amazing!
“This is the best day of my life! Now it’s time for some fun.”
When asked how he planned to enjoy his prize, the stoked bloke said he had one thing in mind.
“I don’t know yet! I can do anything, can’t I?” he laughed.
“I am going to have the time of my life! I want go dancing and partying! I want to have fun!
“Maybe I will get married again, or have kids again! Or travel the world!
“I want to start my life over again and really, really enjoy it! This is my time to just live life to the fullest.
“I’m not young, but now I want to live my life like I am young again!”
The winning entry was purchased at Kings Meadows News & Lotto, 116 Hobart Road, Kings Meadows.
Kings Meadows News & Lotto owner Viv Dolbey said she was ecstatic to see a local customer score a division one win.
“We are over the moon to hear the winner has come forward to claim his prize,” she shared.
“My husband had a premonition we’d sell a division one winning entry so we couldn't be happier it’s gone to one of our lovely local customers.
“All of our staff are so glad he’s now claimed the prize! He told us he almost threw out the ticket, so we’re glad he didn’t.
“It’s just so, so lovely, and we wish him all of the happiness with his prize.”
The winning numbers in TattsLotto draw 4175 on 24 July 2021 were 30, 12, 26, 16, 40 and 27, while the supplementary numbers were 13 and 15.
Across Australia, there were seven division one winning entries in TattsLotto draw 4175 – three from Victoria and one each from Tasmania, Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia.
The Lott’s division one winning tally has now reached 267 so far this calendar year, including 103 won by Tatts customers.
In 2020, TattsLotto created 122 millionaires across Australia.
During this time, there were 312 division one winning in TattsLotto entries across Australia, which collectively won more than $355.13 million.