Keep your tickets in a safe spot!
By Kate Northrop
BENALLA, Australia — Keep those tickets in a safe place! An Australian woman had quite the surprise when she discovered a lottery ticket worth $580,000 (US$387,187) during a car clean-out four months after the draw.
Receipts, loose change, hair ties — these are the sort of things one could expect to find laying around in someone's car, but a Victorian woman found something of much higher value while doing a deep clean of her own car.
For four months, an unclaimed winning TattsLotto ticket for $580,000 sat in her car tucked away in a pile of old receipts.
"I didn't know about the win this entire time," the Benalla resident told the TheLott. "I've been driving around with this lottery ticket worth $580,000 in my car for more than four months."
The ticket was back from a TattsLotto draw that took place on July 2, 2022, which produced nine division one winning tickets across Australia. That ticket was one of nine said winning entries.
The winning numbers in the July 2 TattsLoto drawing were 10, 15, 17, 31, 37, and 42 with supplementary numbers 7 and 11. With the jackpot pool topping out at $5.224 million (US$3.485 million), her total winnings came out to exactly $580,525.35 after the split.
The ticket sat unnoticed for so long because it was not registered to an account when the anonymous woman purchased it, therefore TheLott had no way of contacting the winner. Lottery players in Australia have the option of linking lottery plays to an online account so that TheLott may reach out to the player in the event their ticket is a winner.
Thankfully, she stepped forward four months later.
Although discovering the six-figure slip of paper in her car made for an exciting car clean-out, she was reluctant to celebrate too early until she could confirm the win with the Lottery office.
"My family and I were scared to believe," she explained. "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," she continued.
With proof that the win was real, the winner told the Lottery that the prize will help her family buy a house and enjoy a well-deserved vacation.
Thanks to dannyct for the tip.
Lady luck on her side not tossing it out.
Very nice win!
I bet she hasn't shaved in six months. Bush whacker.
Congrats to the lucky lady, enjoy a day at the spa.
"Are you getting scammed?" "Where are you?" That's a sister who's number one concern was the well being of her sister, not the money. So happy for the family that she did not take her car to some detail shop to have it cleaned inside and out. That would have been unfortunate. This was a very happy ending.
* Those car cleaning stories are the perfect antidote for any weekend, they give me faith in humanity. If it's not the winning ticket stashed on the dashboard despite it withstanding the glaring sunlight, it's under the seat or in the visors. If not there, it's in some other part of the car.
* Remember that golden oldie where the winning ticket was part of a Christmas tree decoration? Until some inquisitive soul took a hard long look at it & said " hey guys, we got a winner here!"
Keep your Tickets in a safe place: Remember to Check them after the Drawing!
I have to start keeping my lottery tickets in the car for a while like all these winners.
For now, I just put them into my pocket and check them as soon as the numbers are posted (or the next morning.)
Good for this lady. It's like a karmic reward for cleaning, or something.
(She must live in an area with a low rate of car break-ins. I learned never leave anything in the car, not even trash. Food wrappers catch the eye of wandering hobos who think you might have more food in the car.)
so good for her