Lotterywest is hoping for an end of year crescendo for Western Australia, starting with Thursday’s $50 million Powerball draw and wrapping up with a $40 million Megadraw on New Year’s Eve.
As the year draws to a close, WA has seen 73 Division One winner’s take home more than $227 million.
Lotterywest spokesperson James Mooney said, although winners share in shock and surprise when finding out about their fortune, each player has their own unique story to share.
“The year kicked off with a story straight out of Ramsay Street when a syndicate ticket worth more than $2.3 million was shared among 12 neighbours,” he said.
“We’re hoping to finish the year just as we started with Thursday’s $50 million Powerball draw and Saturday Lotto’s $40 million New Year’s Eve event.”
Lotterywest has produced a record-breaking return to the WA community for the second year in a row with more than $1 billion going back to WA in grants and prizes in the last financial year.
Tickets for the two draws are available until 6pm draw day from Lotterywest in-store, online or via the app.
Lotterywest has pulled together some of 2022’s most memorable wins.
5 January 2022 – Everybody loves good neighbours
A Perth syndicate ticket, worth more than $2.3 million, was shared among 12 neighbours and friends who all live on the same street.
Each share came in at more than $196.000.
All those who were part of the syndicate were celebrating New Year’s Eve together before the organiser ducked home to check the winning numbers only to realise they’d won Division One.
“I told my kids, called my husband and told them we’ve won, I couldn’t believe it,” she said.
“My husband called everyone over to our place and told them we’d won a couple of hundred dollars, and they were happy with that, but when he told them we’d won a couple of hundred thousand dollars each, they thought he was lying, everyone was so shocked.”
Disability worker claims $1.9 million ticket 7 February 2022
A southern suburbs couple, who claimed a $1.9 million Saturday Lotto prize, said they have seen first-hand the community benefit to playing Lotto, having worked in disability services for over 20 years.
“We know people who have benefitted from Lotterywest grants,” they said.
“Playing Lotto is both a gift and a reward.
“We’ve been playing the same numbers for 22 years and we were thinking of retiring the numbers at the start of the year because we hadn’t had much success, we are so glad we didn’t.”
Second Saturday Lotto win – 4 July
A Baldivis man revealed it was almost four years ago to the day that his syndicate last won big on Saturday Lotto.
He’s been running a syndicate for more than seven years and said he just knew this ticket was going to be another winner.
“My wife had just bought a new car and I told her she didn’t need to worry about paying it off as I was going to win the lotto,” he said.
The syndicate, which started as a few work mates has grown over the years into a group with almost 100 members.
Bye bye BBQ – 2 September 2022
A northern suburbs Dad had to hand over barbecuing responsibilities after winning more than $900,000.
“I had my son and his girlfriend around on Saturday night for dinner and I thought I’d just check my ticket,” he said.
“When I realised that I’d won Division One, I turned to my son and said, “You’re going to have to take over the barbecue, I need to sit down”.
There actually is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow 10 November 2022
It would be remiss of Lotterywest to not mention the record-breaking $160 million Powerball win, which saw 18 work mates win a share of the historic prize.
The $160 million jackpot was the largest in Australian history and was shared between three Division One winners nationally, with each ticket worth more than $53 million.
Boulder Newsagency and Lotto sold the winning Division One ticket in WA.
The ticket holder explained this was the first time the group had bought a ticket together and that they had seen a rainbow appear over the mine site pit at 5.30pm on the evening of the draw.
“We saw the rainbow land in the pit right behind us and thought that’s our pot of gold for tonight!”
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Media Enquiries: Sarah Dawson and James Mooney 0438 996 884