A couple from Queensland state and a man from South Australia will share more than A$106 million (US$86 million) as the only jackpot winners in the nation's record lottery drawn last night.
Holders of the winning Oz Lotto entries, who asked to remain anonymous, will each take about A$53 million in the second-largest single payouts in Australian lottery history. The previous record jackpot of A$58.7 million was won on a single ticket last year.
The first division prize pool, created after 10 straight weekly draws failed to find a winner, eclipsed last year's record prize by about 80 percent, according to Tatts Group Ltd., the nation's largest lottery operator. The jackpot swelled past the A$90 million estimated by operators as one-in-three Australians bought tickets at agencies across the nation.
"It's been frantic since last week," Sydney news agency manager Mike Georgesaid. "It was like the Melbourne Cup every day — non-stop queues."
The Queensland couple went to work today, according to the state's lottery authority. The second winner, from the city of Adelaide, plans to travel and will also share his prize with family and donate money to charity, according to a statement.
Ticketholders had a one-in-45 million chance of winning, according to an estimate from Tatts. Oz Lotto is played in all six Australian states and both territories.
Unlike some U.S. lotteries such as Mega Millions, Australians can take their winnings in a tax-free, lump sum.
Australians lotteries and lotto-style games made around A$1.4 billion in revenue in 2005, representing about nine percent of net gambling takings, according to the most recent data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. This is about a third of what Canadian lotteries made in 2006, according to Statistics Canada data.
"Holders of the winning Oz Lotto entries, who asked to remain anonymous, will each take about A$53 million in the second-largest single payouts in Australian lottery history."
Very smart! WTG! Make your dreams come true!
Congrats to the lucky winners!
Congrats to both winners!
Congratulations to the TWO ticket holders and everyone that they choose to share with!
In reading this article, the MAJOR statement that most excited me was: "Australians can take their winnings in a tax-free, lump sum." Woo Hoo, no 34%+ taxes (State and Federal/National) withdrawn!!! A TRUE what you see is what you get prize.
What Australia needs to do is create an "ASIAN" Continental LOtto Stock Market or System that creates Lotto Millionaires and is tax and each country receives some tax kind of like the way Powerball is shared with other states...I've been saying this but nobody listens...
Also Australia needs to talk to its population into playing: "Professions Job Powerball" that will be used for stuff that the country needs and it needs to tax the lottery 37% to 50% the way the USA does but it needs to talk to its players into playing the state lottery and it needs to charge 2 dollars per ticket 125 for the jackpot and 75 cents for the government that will go for important things that Australia needs....And the 37% to 50% goes to health care or energy free independent like solar energy into make the country oil free...is only a small country population wise...
anyways congratulations to the winners...
A 40-year-old battler now $53 million richer is still reeling from the shock of his Oz Lotto numbers coming up. But the Gold Coast winners of the bonanza have gone to work today.
As details emerged about the owners of the two lucky tickets that shared last night’s $106 million jackpot, it was revealed that one winner had never bought an Oz Lotto ticket before, while the other was described as a battler.
A middle-aged couple from the Gold Coast, having their first lottery flutter and a South Australian man in his 40s were the only winners of the record-breaking prize pool.
The couple, who wanted to remain anonymous, bought a ticket from Lucky Mermaid News on the Gold Coast while the man reportedly purchased his winning ticket at a cafe at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Adelaide.
A Gold Coast couple who won a $53 million share of the historic Oz 7 Lotto draw are off to work despite their massive windfall. “We’re just going to take some time to absorb it and go about our daily lives until it starts to sink in. I’m still going to work today,” the husband said this morning. The middle aged couple watched the draw last night and received the shock of their life when they crossed off all seven winning numbers on their Jumbo Quickpick entry. “We checked it over and over and over again last night,” the husband said. “I would check it and then my wife would check it. We just couldn’t believe that it was real and kept thinking that maybe we’d bought the entry in the wrong draw or on the wrong day,” he said.
Their uncertainty dissolved when they received official confirmation from Golden Casket that it was in fact true and that they are now Queensland’s new record holders for the biggest lotto win in the State. “I was hoping to hear from you this morning,” was the first thing the man said when he received the call. “I just didn’t want to let myself believe it was real until we heard from Golden Casket.” At the moment, they don’t have any immediate plans on how they will spend their $53,274,992.38 prize. “We didn’t get much sleep last night so we’ve been tossing around some ideas but have nothing concrete as yet,” he said. “We do plan to share some of it with family members and give some to charity.” They purchased the winning entry from Lucky Mermaid News at Mermaid Beach. It was the first time that they had purchased an entry in Oz 7 Lotto.
The Adelaide punter reportedly purchased a 14 game Ezi-Pick ticket costing $15.05 from a cafe in the city's Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
He was a regular punter who had been trying for a big win for 20 years.
Lotto agents used his membership card to contact him just hours after the draw last night.
“I just watched the draw, matched three numbers and the other four numbers just fell into place,” the man told agents.
“I couldn’t move, I couldn’t react, I couldn’t do anything but sit there and stare at my ticket,” he said.
“So how much have I won? $2 million? $3 million?”
The man wasn’t quite prepared for the prize figure that was then read out to him.
“Okay, now I’m sitting down. You just blew my mind,” he said.
“I’m numb and quite frankly I have no idea how I’m ever going to sleep again!
“I never expected to win and certainly never expected to win more than $50 million.
“I’ll be sharing my prize with family members and donating to numerous charities.”
What is a "Battler" & a "Punter".Oz english is different than American english.Sometimes its difficult to understand you folks from downunder.
@Myturn:
Please do not copy & paste any more news stories onto the forums. I know I've said that many times, and I've also mentioned the correct way to submit news stories.
There are many reasons for this is requirement, but I really don't want to get into them again.
Just please do not copy news content from another site and paste it into the forums.
These are colloquial terms used in Australia and also in Britain. It's kind of annoying that news media in those countries use these kinds of terms, but that's how they tend to write. The use many informal (colloquial) phrases that one might hear on the street there, but which are not proper terms.
A "punter" is a gambler. A "battler" is someone who always tries to do the right thing, but ends up making a fool of himself.
Thanks,Todd.I know there is a heck of a difference between the Kings English and American English.I have a buddy that lives in Australia and I can't understand anything he says and he can't understand much of what I say,either.
I read the story twice, what did i miss. How did the authorities know who won and how to contact them since they requested to be anonymous?
Will someone educate me?
battler
The word battler has been in the English language for a long time. The word is a borrowing from French in the Middle English period, and meant, literally, `a person who battles or fights', and figuratively `a person who fights against the odds or does not give up easily'. The corresponding English word was feohtan which gives us modern English 'to fight'. English also borrowed the word war from the French in the twelfth century; it's the same word as modern French guerre.
But the word battler, at the end of the nineteenth century, starts to acquire some distinctively Australian connotations. For this reason, it gets a guernsey in the Australian National Dictionary.
1. It describes the person with few natural advantages, who works doggedly and with little reward, who struggles for a livelihood (and who displays courage in so doing).