‘Rough couple of years’: Lone lottery ticket claims $70m
A Tasmanian man has claimed his state’s biggest lottery win, pocketing $70 million in an Oz Lotto draw.
The man, who held the lone winning division one ticket in Tuesday night’s draw, is planning a rapid retirement.
“I’ve had a [rough] couple of years,” he said on Wednesday.
“I am just getting back on my feet, and I still have a mortgage when everyone else [my age] is about to retire. I have been saying I will have to work until I am 70, but not now.”
It is the biggest lottery prize won in Tasmania, and the second-biggest prize in Oz Lotto’s 31-year history.
The winning ticket was an 18-game entry bought online for about $26.
The Lott officials could not contact the man about his good fortune because they did not have his complete details. They initially thought the winning ticket had been sold in Victoria – and issued a plea on Wednesday for everyone in that state to check their tickets.
But the winning ticket-holder had checked his ticket not long after the draw, and officials didn’t have to wait long for him to come forward.
“I have hardly slept all night. I was wondering if I was dreaming, and I was going to wake up and someone was going to say, it was all just a dream,” the lucky Tasmanian said on Wednesday.
In disbelief that the win was real, the man went to work as normal on Wednesday. Upon confirmation from The Lott, he couldn’t hide his excitement.
“Oh wow. I don’t have to come to work anymore, it’s -1 degree here at the moment where I am working. I might just go and hand my resignation in right now,” he said.
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He also has other plans for his windfall.
“[I’ll be] buying a dream home with my partner and helping my family out. Oh, this is brilliant, absolutely brilliant,” he said.
In addition to Tuesday night’s division one prize, a total of 1,134,330 prizes were won from divisions two to seven worth $26.38 million. That includes 20 division two prizes, each of $48,365.75.
The winning numbers in Tuesday’s Oz Lotto draw were 44, 34, 45, 1, 46, 25 and 21. The supplementary numbers were 9, 14 and 16.
