A Sorell man has won $20 million in Tuesday night’s Oz Lotto draw after a last-minute dash to buy his ticket just before his local newsagent closed.
The man shared the $40 million jackpot with a mystery player from Hervey Bay in Queensland, with each taking home $20 million.
He had no idea he had won until an official from The Lott called him immediately after the draw.
“Wow! Unbelievable!” he said.
“That is life-changing! It’s come at a really good time.”
The winner said he and his partner had been searching for a new home.
“I’ll paint you a really good picture of what that means for us,” he said.
“We’ve been renting and have been looking for another house to move to. This is like – now we’ll just buy a house!”
He said he was also approaching retirement and hoped to travel overseas, with Texas and Arizona on his list.
“Holy smokes! I appreciate the call. Geez, I’m shocked. I’m so happy. It’s just a weight off your shoulders,” he said.
The win almost did not happen at all.
The man was held up at work and made a last-ditch run to his local outlet just minutes before closing.
“I struggled to get to the newsagent tonight. I was late from work and got there in time – a couple of minutes before closing,” he said.
He also broke from his usual routine, filling out a form with his partner instead of buying a standard QuickPick ticket.
“My partner picked some numbers and I added some,” he said.
His winning nine-game entry was purchased at Sorell Lucky Agency on Gordon Street.
The other division one winner from Queensland held an unregistered ticket and may not yet know about their windfall.
The winning numbers in Oz Lotto draw 1695 were 2, 19, 27, 35, 7, 22 and 30, with supplementary numbers 37, 41 and 32.
