An
Australian man who has been a loyal lotto player for over 30 years discovered persistence
can pay off when all those years of faithful playing were rewarded with a big
win earlier this month.
The winner, who has chosen to remain anonymous, admitted to lottery representatives he was surprised when his numbers finally did him proud in the Saturday night drawing on January, 18, and won him a first division prize of $513,011.97.
"As
soon as I checked the winning Lotto numbers on the internet and knew I'd won I
breathed a sigh of relief," he said.
"I've been playing for around 30 years but it still came as a shock
to have my own numbers come up." He now plans to settle his mortgage and
pay off his debts.
The lucky
winner purchased his ticket from the Banora Point Newsagency at Banora Point
Shopping Village. Store owner, Kirstie Connell, has no idea which one of her
customers bought the ticket because they presented it directly to Lotto, but
when she heard the ticket was purchased at her store she said she was
"thrilled to bits" for the winner and hoped they would make
themselves known the next time they visited her store.
"We
like to share the excitement because it's such a thrill for us as well to be
part of it," she explained, and went on to say that her store must be on a
lucky streak because another of her customers won $20,000 on a $1 Scratchie
bought over the Christmas period.
