A couple who thought they had won $1,000 were stunned to realize they had misread their lottery ticket and had actually won more than a million dollars.
The Gold Coast couple became $1,008,162.52 richer following Saturday’s Division 1 draw.
They were one of five participants who had a winning ticket and initially believed they had won $1,000.
When officials from The Lott called to confirm their winnings, the couple realized their mistake.
“I decided to check the ticket. At first, all I saw were the first four numbers and I said to my partner: ‘We’ve won $1,008,'” said the female winner.
“He looked at the screen and said, ‘It’s not $1,008,’ and I said, ‘Yes, it is,’ and then he said, ‘It’s $1 million.’”
The woman said she and her partner are both retired and the money will be used to repair their home after it was damaged in recent storms.
“We’re retired and there’s a lot of work we’d love to do on our house, especially after the Christmas Day storms that hit this area,” he said.
An Upper Coomera couple, who live on the Gold Coast, initially thought they had only won $1,000 in Gold Lotto draw 4485 on Saturday 13 July.
However, upon closer examination of the 18-game QuickPick first division winner, they realized that the winnings actually amounted to $1,008,162.52.
The woman said they typically don’t make more than $15 per drawing.
“I still can’t believe it,” he said.
“It has come at a very good time and we feel very blessed.”
The winning ticket was purchased from News Extra Coomera whose manager, Ching Lee said he couldn’t believe it.
“When I first saw it at the terminal, I couldn’t believe it,” he said.
‘Congratulations to our winner, I hope your victory changes your life!’
In the past decade, five division-winning tickets and two jackpot-winning Scratch-It instant tickets have been sold at the kiosk.
The winning numbers for Saturday’s Gold Lotto drawing were 21, 2, 36, 24, 18 and 1, and the complementary numbers were 14 and 27.
The ticket was purchased at News Extra Coomera and the winning numbers were 21, 2, 36, 24, 18 and 1, with the additional numbers 14 and 27.
Two of the division one winners lived in Queensland and one came from New South Wales, one from Victoria and one from Western Australia.
So far in 2024 there have been 223 Division 1 winners, and in 2023 Saturday Gold Lotto created 176 millionaires across Australia.
Officials hope Monday’s Set for Life drawing, which awards $20,000 a month for 20 years, Tuesday’s $40 million Oz Lotto and Thursday’s $10 million Powerball will lead to similar positive stories.