A Melbourne, Australia, woman's forgetfulness has paid off to the tune of $835,149.68 (US$776,334) after she accidentally bought two entries in Saturday night's TattsLotto draw and won two division-one prizes.
Each entry netted the woman in her 30s a division-one prize worth $413,810.74, and her cumulative winnings — including cash from several other divisional prizes — came to $835,149.68.
The woman was told of her win on Monday, and initially believed the phone call from Tatts was a practical joke.
"This isn't a hoax is it? Hang on, I'll have to take my coat off, it's really hot all of a sudden!" she said.
"I buy a TattsLotto ticket every week, and I just forgot that I'd already bought one for the weekend when I went to another shop to buy the second one.
"I always play the same numbers made up of family birthdays."
The woman did not have immediate plans to stop working but said she had already earmarked a large chunk of the prize to pay off her home.
"Half of that $835,000 will go straight towards the mortgage ... I guess it's a good thing we won twice so there's some prize money left over. It will be such a relief to be debt-free," she said.
"I'll have to go and ring hubby now to break the news."
The woman bought both winning tickets at Melbourne Central Shopping Centre, from separate newsagencies.
Six out of 10 winning division-one entries for Saturday's draw were bought in Victoria. The four other winning entries were sold in East Doncaster, Heidelberg, Glenroy and St Albans.
God Bless her.
awww she sounds like a nice person. And one with good common sense... pay off the mortgage first, not fancy cars and trips!
Double your pleasure,double your fun!!
Some people have all the luck. Congrats to the winner.
This reminds me of the West Virginia player who hit the PowerBall second prize with PowerPlay for 7 tickets in 2012. I am happy for this woman. I cannot wait for my turn
Congratulation to the winner
Nice story. Unexpected windfalls are always nice.
After I win this Powerball jackpot, I will be playing for a mondo 2nd prize, especially with the way the Mega Millions game is being revamped this fall. Now time to get those matching numbers...homina, homina, ohmmmmmmmmmm!!!
Anyone know the number matrix for this game. ... is there any game in the us similar And what's the cost per play
I followed this link from above (on this page) and it looks like a 6/45 game.
Very nice win. Its like winning a house, and not having to move.
ive done that bought the same ticket twice. unfortunately without the winning jackpot part,. but did get 2x $40 i think it was.