A New Lambton man has described his Instant Scratch-Its top prize win as “pretty cool” after he scored one of the top prizes of $1,000 a week for 10 years on a $10 Live the Life ticket.
The winning ticket was purchased at Blackbutt Hotel, 80 Orchardtown Road, New Lambton.
Sharing his excitement with an official from The Lott, the man explained Live the Life tickets were the only ones he liked to play.
“I don’t play that often, but whenever I do, I play a Live the Life ticket,” he explained.
“I’ve always thought it’s a great prize. I’ve probably only ever played 10 times in my life.
“The first time I saw them I thought to myself ‘I’d love to win that prize’ and so I haven’t played anything else since.
“When I purchased this one, other people were buying them in the store.
“The one I bought just happened to be the winner. It’s crazy to think how close it was to not being me who won.
“When I scratched the ticket and saw the three symbols, I couldn’t believe it at first. It wasn’t until it was confirmed and I received the first payment did I believe it.
“It’s pretty cool seeing it go into my bank account every week.”
When asked how he planned to enjoy the annuity prize of $1,000 a week for 10 years, the stoked bloke confessed it would go a long way.
“It helps me out a lot!” he declared.
“I’m not the kind of guy to splurge on things, so it’s just going straight towards the home loan.
“It definitely takes the pressure off!”
Blackbutt Hotel manager Greg McCarther said he was thrilled his outlet had sold its largest-ever prize.
“This is the biggest prize we’ve ever sold, so we are stoked!” he exclaimed.
“Before this, we’d sold a $100,000 1st Prize, so this knocks that out of the park.
“It’s a pretty big deal for us.
“We are very happy for our customer. It’s nice to hear it’s gone to a local.
“We wish him all the best with his prize over the next ten years!”
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.