A Maitland man has admitted he first thought his wife had given him a ‘fake Instant Scratch-Its ticket’ to play a trick on him after he scratched a sensational top prize of $1,000 a week for the next five years.
The top prize-winning $5 Live the Life Thailand Instant Scratch-Its ticket was purchased at Greenhills Newsagency, Shop 39 Stockland Shopping Centre, Greenhills.
The wife of the Hunter Valley resident relayed how the instant windfall came about when an official from The Lott reached out this morning.
“It’s quite a story,” she laughed.
“I won a free Instant Scratch-Its ticket on another ticket and my partner decided to scratch the free one.
“Then I started to notice he was flipping the ticket back and forth. I said to him, ‘What are you doing?’.
“He replied, ‘You’ve stitched me up, haven’t you?!’ and I said to him, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about’ and I asked him to be serious. He thought it was a fake ticket.
“We often play pranks on each other, so I can understand where he was coming from.
“The next thing I knew, he said ‘I think we’ve won big!’. At that moment I was thinking we had won $200 or $300 – not $1,000 a week for the next five years!
“There was a lot of colourful language. I couldn’t believe it. I said to him, ‘Bulls*** You’re f****** kidding me!’.’
“There was a lot of back and forth wondering if it was true.
“We used to treat ourselves to Instant Scratch-Its all the time, but we haven’t really bought any for nine months until we won this free one.
“We will be celebrating as a family, that’s for sure!”
With $1,000 a week about to boost their bank account for the next five years, the winning woman shared their delightful plans.
“We’re planning on paying off our debts and buying a brand-new car,” she said.
“I’ve always wanted a Prado since I was a young girl, so I’ll be able to finally buy the car that I’ve been dreaming of and it’s a great family car for my kids.
“Thank you so much.”
The Greenhills Newsagency team said they were thrilled to have sold a top prize-winning Instant Scratch-Its ticket to a local woman and wished the winners all the best.
