A West Hobart pensioner is eager to swap his home for a house on wheels and travel around Australia after winning a top prize of $150,000 on an Instant Scratch-Its ticket.
The winning $10 Jumbo Crosswords Instant Scratch-Its ticket was purchased at West Hobart Express, 12 Hill Street, West Hobart.
Speaking with an official from the Lott this afternoon, the Tasmanian man revealed that while he was a regular Instant Scratch-Its player, he never imagined winning $150,000.
“I actually found out a couple of weeks ago! I have been keeping it safe in the bottom of a draw,” he laughed.
“When I scratched it, I was rather excited.
“I could believe it! I checked the ticket over and over again.
“I was with a friend and she was probably more excited than me!
“I never thought I would actually win the top prize.
“It’s not something that happens every day.
“I did tell my family and they were very happy for me.
“It’s certainly a large amount.”
When asked how he planned to enjoy his instant windfall, the overjoyed man said he had his eyes set on an endless holiday.
“I’ve been very happy and relaxed thinking about what I am going to do with it,” he shared.
“I am going to buy myself a caravan and travel around Australia! Then once I am done travelling in it, I will live in it.
“Once the money is in my account, I am going to have a nice dinner and a bottle of champagne to celebrate.”
West Hobart Express owners Tony and Mary Kakkos said they couldn’t be more thrilled for their winning customer.
“We are very happy,” Tony said.
“We wish our winner the very best and hope he has some exciting plans for his prize.”
“It’s always nice to hear when one of our customers win a large prize,” Mary added.
“Hopefully we can keep delivering more major prize wins to our customers.”
In 2019, there were 199 Instant Scratch-Its top prize winners across the Lott’s jurisdictions who collectively took home more than $9.7 million in top prizes.
During this same time, Instant Scratch-Its players enjoyed more than 27.1 million wins across all prize tiers worth more than $208.8 million. This equates to more than half a million dollars won on Instant Scratch-Its every day.