A Pakenham woman has revealed a spur-of-the-moment decision while out walking with a friend led her to scratch one of the top prizes of $50,000 on a $4 Instant Scratch-Its ticket.
The winning $4 Hippo Bingo Plus ticket was purchased at Pakenham Place, Shop 35, Pakenham Place Shopping Centre, 67-79 Main Street, Pakenham VIC 3810.
Sharing her excitement with an official from The Lott today, the overjoyed winner recounted the moments leading up to her win.
“It’s been a bit hard this year with COVID, so I decided to go for a walk up the street to get out and about,” she said.
“I’ve never really been one to buy Instant Scratch-Its tickets, but while I was out, I thought ‘you know what, I could use a bit of good news’ and decided to buy one.
“I didn’t think it was actually possible to win this sort of money. I couldn’t believe it!
“When I scratched it, I saw that I had all of the numbers in a row to win $50,000 but one.
“Then the last number I scratched was the one I had been waiting for.
“I thought to myself ‘it’s not real’ and it took a couple of days for me to comprehend the news.
“It wasn’t until I went back to the newsagency to check my ticket and they said ‘you know you have a big win here’ did I realise it was real.
“It was pretty exciting!”
When asked how she planned to enjoy her instant windfall, the thrilled winner confessed the money had already been spent.
“It has just come at the perfect time for me!” she declared.
“A couple of days before I won, I’d just committed to buying a new car.
“So the win has completely covered that for me, and I’ve got a brand new car to enjoy.”
Pakenham Place owner Trish O’Lynn said she was thrilled one of her customers had walked away with a major prize.
“This is the first major Instant Scratch-Its prize we’ve sold and the biggest prize our outlet has seen!” she exclaimed.
“We’ve sold a few division two winning entries but nothing as exciting as this.
“We’ve been telling all of our customers that we’ve sold a big prize!
“We were really really rapt for our customer. We wish her all the best with her prize!”
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.
