New Australian lottery company pays out first major winner
A Karratha father has scored a $45,000 cash in hand win on a $7 lottery ticket during his first week playing through The Lottery Office.
Despite the parent company of The Lottery Office paying out over $40 million in winnings internationally, this is the first major win in Australia since the organisation’s launch earlier this year.
The 51-year-old bought just one ticket in The Lottery Office’s USA Power Lotto draw – which is matched against the US Powerball – but that was enough to score him a five-figure payday from the division 3 prize.
The winner, who has chosen to remain anonymous, said that he didn’t even realise he had won until he received a call from The Lottery Office.
“At first, I thought it was a joke,” he said.
“Everyone wants to win the lottery, but I never thought that it would be me, and I only started playing through The Lottery Office a week ago.
“I’m just a normal bloke – I work in the mines six days a week, 11 hours a day – and I hadn’t even had the chance to check my ticket online before I got the call.
“To win a prize like this is a dream come true, and it’s going to make a huge difference to my family.”
The Lottery Office General Manager Jaclyn Wood said that The Lottery Office offered the only way for Australians to legally benefit from overseas lottery draws, which regularly offer larger jackpots than Tatts lotteries.
“The Lottery Office issues Australian consumers with a lottery ticket in its own government-authorised lottery and then purchases a matching ticket in the overseas lottery draw, rather than offering a bet on the outcome,” Ms Wood said.
“If the customer wins, we pay them the exact amount of the winnings we collect from the overseas lottery ticket.
“This means that our customers can benefit from jackpots that regularly exceed $100 million.
“For example, this winner was only one number away from winning the $128 million jackpot, and we’ve had jackpots this year reach more than $1 billion.”
Ms Wood said that the winner was so shocked when she told him the news, he couldn’t answer when she asked how he planned to spend his winnings.
“When I finally convinced him it was true, he was in complete shock,” Ms Wood said.
“I called him back the next day to give him some more information, and by then he had decided that he was going to pay off his debts and take his family on a holiday.
“It proves that through The Lottery Office, you can win big with tickets that start at just $7.”
The USA Power Lotto has continued to jackpot to a massive $166 million, with the draw closing at 10am AEST this Thursday.
To find out more, visit The Lottery Office’s website.
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