A Bundaberg man has confessed he couldn’t sleep a wink after checking his Saturday Gold Lotto ticket late at night and realising he had scored $2.9 million, making him a millionaire on the spot.
The man was gobsmacked that he held one of the seven division one winning entries in Saturday Gold Lotto draw, with each division one winning entry pocketing $2,857,142.86.
But in a surprising addition to winning division one, his marked System 9 entry also scored division 2 six times, division three 12 times, division four 45 times and division five 20 times, bolstering his total prize to $2,929,742.61.
“Oh! Thank you very much!” the winning man cheered when officials from The Lott confirmed the life-changing news.
“I checked my ticket online the night of the draw at around 11 pm,” he said.
“I immediately told my wife to get up, and I said ‘I think we’ve won something big here’.
“I couldn’t sleep at all after that. We both couldn’t!
“My eyes were glued to the clock and all of a sudden it was 9 am.
“It’s very good news. It’s amazing.”
When asked how he planned to use his newfound fortune, the winning man revealed he was too amazed to make any immediate plans.
“Well, we’re not sure, to be honest! We just can’t get over it,” he said.
“I think once it fully hits us, we’ll be able to make some decisions.
“Right now, we’re just still gobsmacked!”
His winning System 9 entry was purchased from Winners Nest, Bundaberg.
The Winners Nest owner Srikanth Tarigopula said he and the team were thrilled to have sold a division one winning entry.
“It’s very exciting! We’ve been waiting for a big win for a long time now,” he said.
“The last time we sold a division one winning entry was 10 years ago!
“This will be our fifth now in 15 years, so it’s incredible!
“Congratulations to our fortunate customer. We wish him all the best and hope his prize brings him plenty of joy.”
Gambling Help Queensland is a free service delivered by a network of community-based specialist agencies that provide counselling and support to people experiencing harm from gambling, their families and friends. More information about Gambling Help Queensland can be found here.
