Group members from the same town share a portion of the whopping prize

By Kate Northrop

KALGOORLIE, Australia — A Facebook group made up of 250 people from the same town have won a share of the $126 million (US$91.3 million) Powerball lottery jackpot.

There's a "lotto" luck in Kalgoorlie, where one ticket belonging to a lottery pool of 250 Facebook group members won a share of the $126 million Powerball jackpot from Thursday night's draw.

While one other unnamed player from New South Wales bought a winning ticket to stake a claim to the prize, a Facebook group called "Goldfields, let's pay our mortgages" is all the buzz.

Both of the division one winning tickets matched the drawn numbers 6, 9, 15, 27, 28, 32, 33, and Powerball 8, and they will each receive a payout of about $63.3 million (US$45.9 million). Divy that up for 250 people, and that's about $253,000 (US$183,487) per person.

The $126 million Powerball jackpot is the second-largest prize in the history of an Australian lottery game, right behind a $150 million (US$108.8 million) Powerball drawing from September 2019. That prize was split by three winning ticket-holders.

In a celebratory, yet simple, fashion, the retailer that sold the winning ticket had something profound to say of the momentous occasion.

"WE <snip>ING DID IT," the newsagent posted to their Facebook page. The update was then deleted, but a screenshot has thankfully memorialized the store's bursting energy.

The lottery pool, and subsequently the "Goldfields, let's pay our mortgages" Facebook group, was started by Tania and Kevin Parkes, who are the owners of City News Kalgoorlie, the retailer that sold the winning ticket. They put the group together "to make the lives of hundreds of Goldfields families better, not just one."

"This is life-changing for so many people," Tania told Nine News Perth. "The ticket is $25,000, and obviously people can't afford that on their own, so we got 250 people in, who paid $100 each to try and keep it as affordable as possible."

Tania explained that the high ticket price is due to the fact that the group tried to maximize their odds of winning with the plays they opted for.

"Buying the expensive ticket gives you 12 numbers in a row and the Powerball number, so [we] were just hoping we would get the seven needed."

Thanks to the big win and combined efforts of the group, the entire community in Kalgoorlie is celebrating the positive changes to come.

"We had somebody come in last night who was on the verge of losing her rental home because they were going to sell it, and now she's going to buy it," Kevin told WA Today. "It has changed so many lives."

One of the winners, Louie Trow, heard the news over a phone call on the night of the draw.

"How good is it for Kalgoorlie, 250 smiling faces," he remarked. "This is just going to change the town. It is awesome."

Nardia Turner, another winner, told Radio 6PR that "it's a little bit surreal."

"It was very exciting... Kalgoorlie is a small place. Everybody knows everybody. It was the realization that we are sharing it with a lot of people in the community."

(Click to display full-size in gallery)The now-deleted newsagent Facebook post.