Gazette story earns pensioner $500,000

A Berwick man has won division one Lotto.

A Gazette story prompted a division-one winning Berwick man to check his Lotto numbers after unknowingly having the lucky ticket stashed in his wallet for the past six months.
The 167-day hunt for the mystery owner of the winning ticket from Berwick Lucky Lotto ended on 14 July, with the mysterious local finally coming forward to claim his half a million dollar prize.
The man’s 12-game QuickPick entry won the division one prize of $509,614.77 in TattsLotto draw 3707 on Saturday 28 January 2017, but he had until now been completely oblivious to his win.
Speaking to a Tatts official on 14 July, the delighted Berwick pensioner said reading the newspaper story about the unclaimed prize had spurred him into checking his old TattsLotto tickets in his wallet.
“I went into Berwick Lucky Lotto where I regularly buy my TattsLotto tickets and they had up on their wall a newspaper story about the unclaimed ticket they had sold and I thought ‘it couldn’t be me’,” he said with a laugh.
The winner confessed one of his bad habits was responsible for the delay in the discovery of his win.
“I have a really bad habit of getting my TattsLotto tickets, and the previous draw results, and stuffing them both in my wallet and not checking them,” he said.
“It was getting so full of tickets that I couldn’t close it, so it was only yesterday when I sat down and went through them all that I realised I had won.
“I went through the ticket and got the shock of my life when I saw one ticket where the six numbers had come up.”
The jubilant man said the 167-day delay in realising he was a division one winner was a lesson for other TattsLotto players.
“Always check your tickets or put them through the machine at the outlet,” he said.
“Thank god for that newspaper article.”
When asked how he planned to spend his newly discovered windfall, the man admitted he wasn’t exactly sure how he would spoil himself.
“There will be plenty of time for that – plenty of trips away, I hope,” he said.
The man has chosen to remain anonymous.