More than nine months after the draw, a Ryde man has finally discovered his $756,000 Saturday Lotto win after having his winning ticket tucked away in a filing cabinet the entire time.
There were eight division one winning entries across Australia in Saturday Lotto draw 4171 on Saturday 10 July 2021. Each entry won a division one prize of $756,133.42.
The New South Wales division one winning entry was unregistered, which means officials from The Lott had no way of reaching out to the winner and had to wait for them to come forward to claim their prize.
Earlier this week, the Sydneysider finally checked his ticket and realised he’d won division one.
“Oh, I’m so grateful! I couldn’t believe it,” he laughed when speaking with an official from The Lott.
“I placed it with some paperwork nine months ago and completely forgot about it!
“I went to look through the filing cabinet last week to see what I’d chucked in there. That’s when I noticed I had about 20 old lottery tickets lying around.
“I sat down to have a coffee, and I scanned the Saturday Lotto tickets on The Lott app, and one of them lit up like a Christmas tree. My partner said to me, ‘What’s wrong?”
“I told her that we won $756,000, but she didn’t believe me! She actually didn’t believe me until we went into the newsagency the following day!
“Life is so busy, and we forget we do certain things. Especially when you have a family, days fly by!
“I even won $460 on a Powerball ticket as well – I hope to find another winning one lying around!
“I play lotteries every now and then, and you’ve got to be in it for your chance to win it. If it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be, and I’m appreciative to have won! It’s crazy.”
When asked how he planned to enjoy his good fortune, the gleeful winner said he couldn’t wait to finish his house renovations.
“I bought a house a few years ago, and I’ve been meaning to finish some house renovations, but the pandemic has made things hard,” he shared.
“This will help tremendously!”
The life-enhancing entry was purchased at West Ryde Marketplace News, Shop 14, 14 Anthony Road, West Ryde.
West Ryde Marketplace News owner Sunita Chauhan said she was glad her winner had been united with his prize.
“We’ve been operating for more than 16 years, and we’re always over the moon to sell a division one winning entry, especially to local customers,” she said.
“We’d been eagerly waiting for our division one winner to come forward, and we’re so glad to hear that they finally have discovered their winning news.
“Congratulations to our winner and we hope they have wonderful plans for their division one prize. We can’t wait for our next big win!”
The winning numbers in Saturday Lotto draw 4171 on 10 July 2021 were 23, 22, 30, 28, 38 and 34, while the supplementary numbers were 16 and 20.
Across Australia, there were eight division one winning entries in Saturday Lotto draw 4171 – three from Victoria, two each from New South Wales and Queensland, and one online.
The Lott’s division one winning tally has now reached 144 so far this calendar year, including 40 won by NSW Lotteries customers.