A couple from Balga have more than a million reasons to celebrate after listening to their Lotterywest retailer’s advice resulted in a $1,022,477 windfall.
The man dropped into Fieldgate News and General Store in Balga on his way home from helping out a mate.
“The owners are lovely and convinced me to buy a System 8 ticket in Monday’s draw, which I wouldn’t normally buy,” he said.
“And you know…the rest is history.”
The man discovered his win when he was home alone, while his partner who works as a nurse was on night shift.
“I reckon I checked my ticket 20 times,” he said.
“I even printed out the results 10 times to make sure I was right.”
The woman said she came home after a rough night at work, to find her husband with two champagne glasses, ready to cheers.
“It sounds silly but he wasn’t sitting where he normally sits,” she laughed.
“I thought something really bad must’ve happened.
“There were highlighters littered all over the house because he’d checked his numbers so many times.”
The couple are in their 60s and said the prize money would change their life by helping them pay off their mortgage and make retirement possible, which wasn’t an option before.
“We’ll definitely be helping out close family,” he said.
“Even though we told them they didn’t have any inheritance!”
By playing with Lotterywest, WA players also helped contribute to their local community.
Last year, Lotterywest supported three Balga organisations: WADJAK Northside Aboriginal Community Group received $123,276 to help build cultural knowledge and improve the wellbeing of Aboriginal people in the Northern suburbs; Whitelion Youth Agency got $40,000 for emergency financial relief for youth at risk and Kerala Hindu Samjam Perth Inc got $9,000 towards equipment for community events and programs sharing and celebrating cultural heritage.
When WA people play with Lotterywest, the money stays in WA in the form of prizes to players, grants to community and commissions to retailers.
Lotterywest is unique in Australia in that the link between players and grant recipients is so short.
The next chance to win big with Lotterywest is the $50 million OZ Lotto draw on Tuesday.
Since the OZ Lotto jackpot was last won on 29 January, OZ Lotto sales have generated more than $2.5 million for the WA community.
By next Tuesday’s draw, that figure is projected to double to $5 million.
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Media Enquiries Jennie Fitzhardinge & Hermione Coleman: 9488 6227 / 0438 996 884
14 March 2019