25 July 2008

A great-grandma from Perth’s southern suburbs has become Lotto’s ‘Fairy Grandmother’ after vowing to donate $2 million of her $13 million Division One OZ Lotto prize to local good causes.

The upbeat and chatty pensioner said she was “dumbfounded” to have won on the Slikpik 25 she bought at Warnbro Fair Lottery Centre, and vowed to make good on a promise she’d made to herself when she first started playing Lotto many years ago:

“I always said that if I had a big win, I would donate some money to Princess Margaret Hospital and Telethon and that’s what I’m going to do.  I’m going to give them $1 million each”, she said.

The woman was genuinely surprised and bashful when it was suggested her intentions were remarkably generous.

“To see children in pain is terrible.  I want to be able to help.  The children are the future adults of WA” she said.

The multi-million dollar win has also put an end to her husband’s jibes about her small regular Lotto purchases.  He had long told her Lotto tickets were “a waste of money” and that she would “never win.”

I always said to him, “you’ve got to be in it to win it!” she laughed, adding that she never normally bought OZ Lotto tickets, but made an exception because of the $50 million jackpot.

The woman said she had run out of time to come into Lotterywest to claim her win any earlier than yesterday afternoon.  She had been busy celebrating.  First, dropping off “bottles of bubbly” to Warnbro Fair Lottery Centre, and then celebrating with fish and chips with her family.

The woman said she had no desire to spend any of the money on travel.  She has never been on a plane or travelled out of the country. She hated the thought of flying.

“I would never go on a plane.  The sky is for the birds!  I have never been abroad.  I’m happy here and I can see all those wonderful places on the television” she said.

The woman shunned any suggestions of spending some of her prize money on personal luxuries, instead insisting that she would derive the most enjoyment from sharing the money with charity and her family.

The winner follows in the footsteps of another generous great-grandmother from WA who also struck it lucky in Lotto.  Meekatharra matriarch Iris Curley captured the imagination of the nation when she became the sole winner of a $15 million Powerball jackpot in 2004.  She later donated a portion of her prize money to Telethon. 

Western Australia had two of the four Division One winners from Tuesday’s $50 million OZ Lotto draw.  Lotterywest is still waiting to hear from the owner of WA’s other winning ticket, also worth $13 million, that was bought at Beechboro Newsagency.

The $13 million prizes are WA’s richest Division One Lotto wins for 2008.

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