Benalla mum finds winning lotto ticket in car

By Benalla Ensign

Nov 17, 2022

Life-changing: A Benalla mum recently claimed a TattsLotto win of more than $580,000. Photo by Contributed

A Benalla mum was completely oblivious to winning a division one TattsLotto prize for more than four months.

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After cleaning her car last week she discovered a lottery ticket among a pile of old receipts.

A quick check revealed it was one of nine division one winners, with each taking home $580,525.35.

It had been drawn on July 2, 2022 and the valuable ticket had sat there for months

The winning entry was unregistered, which meant officials from The Lott had no way of contacting the ticketholder to break the life-enhancing news and had to wait for her to come forward.

“Oh my God! I had no idea!” she said when an official from The Lott spoke to her after she claimed her prize.

“I didn’t know about the win this entire time. I’ve been driving around with this lottery ticket worth $580,000 in my car for more than four months.

“I discovered the win when I went through a pile of old receipts and lottery tickets that had been hidden in my car.

“I took them straight to the local newsagency to check them and the lovely team member nearly started crying for me when the division one notification came up on the lottery terminal.

“The team at Benalla Pharmacy know me as a regular, so it was a really sweet moment.

“My family and I were scared to believe the winning news until we went to The Lott head office to claim the prize.

“As soon as I told my sister and mum about the news, my sister said, ‘Are you getting scammed? Where are you?’ I had to reassure her that it wasn’t a scam.

“We got up in the early hours of the morning the next day and drove straight to The Lott head office in Docklands to claim the prize.

“I’m really happy and grateful to have won. This is life-changing for me.”

When asked how she planned to enjoy her windfall, the gleeful woman said it would help her family buy a house and enjoy a long-overdue holiday.

“I can look forward to buying my first family home.” she said.

“I’d love to book a little holiday. It’s been a long time coming.”

Her winning entry was purchased at Benalla Pharmacy, 83 Bridge St, Benalla.

Benalla Pharmacy manager Electra Gercovish said she was over the moon to hear their mystery division one winner had finally claimed her prize and wished her all the best with her windfall.