A Queensland mother thought she had lost her lottery ticket for Thursday’s $100 million Powerball draw, before finding the winning numbers on her car.
The lucky mum, whose name has not been revealed, said she only checked the glove box after hearing there was a mystery winner near her home in Apsley, Brisbane.
“The funniest thing is that I almost lost it. I had to stop on the road on my way home from shopping because I thought I had left it there,” she said.
‘After that I put it in the glove box and completely forgot about it until this morning.
“I’m scared to breathe in case this isn’t real. We’re in complete shock.”
Asked how she might enjoy the $100 million, the Aspley resident, north of Brisbane, admitted she would need a moment to grasp the enormity of the prize before making any firm plans.
“We don’t even know what’s in store for us. We’ve worked so hard all our lives to get everything we have and we don’t really live a luxurious lifestyle,” she said.
‘We’d like to do some travelling. Maybe a family holiday somewhere. We’ve always wanted to go and see New Zealand and Fiji.
A Queensland mother thought she had lost her lottery ticket for Thursday’s $100 million Powerball draw, before finding the winning numbers on her car. (file image, not the winner pictured)
Thursday night’s Powerball jackpot was the sixth-largest in Australian lottery history.
One in two Australian adults was expected to buy a ticket for Thursday night’s Powerball draw.
“It’s so weird. I can’t even say it out loud right now!”
The winning ticket was purchased from Nextra Newsagency in Westfield Chernside, which has previously sold several major winning tickets.
Owner Shannon Hickey said it was “crazy” to see another big division one win at his establishment.
“It’s very exciting! We’ve won many times in the top division over the years,” he said.
“We did the math the other day and realized we’d sold over $64 million worth of Division 1 winning tickets. Now we’ve sold over $164 million!” he said.
‘Interestingly, about a decade ago, we sold a $40 million Oz Lotto jackpot and, at the time, that was the third-largest jackpot in Australia.
‘Now, this $100 million Powerball prize is the third-largest jackpot in Australia and the largest in Queensland.
‘It’s just fantastic and means we are the luckiest store in Australia!
“Congratulations to our winners. We wish them all the best with their prize.”
Up to half of Australia’s adult population was expected to buy a ticket for Thursday night’s draw.
The winning article was purchased from Nextra Chermside Newsagency,
The last six-figure jackpot was in May, when an Adelaide man became the biggest lottery winner in Australian history after a $150 million windfall.
Twelve Powerball Tier 1 winners have pocketed more than $592 million so far this year, with five wins each in New South Wales ($210 million) and Queensland ($220 million), and one each in South Australia ($150 million) and Victoria ($12 million).
More than half of the winning tickets were QuickPicks and almost half were PowerHit tickets, which is a Powerball ticket that guarantees the Powerball number needed to win division one.
The jackpot returns to $4 million for next week’s Powerball drawing.