PERTH, Australia — An Australian student worried about her parents' money problems rifled through a pile of her lottery tickets Thursday and discovered that she had won 13 million Australian dollars (US$10 million) 10 months ago, a state lottery agency said.
The student, living in the west coast city of Perth, received the winning ticket for a draw on July 22 last year as a gift from her father, Western Australia state agency Lotterywest said.
By discovering her parents' financial worries were over, the lucky student also helped solve a lottery mystery that has made headlines in Western Australia for the past 10 months.
"People had been wondering for months, who is this mystery winner? Do they know about this ticket?" said Jodi Eastman, spokeswoman for Lotterywest, the state lottery.
"We have a 12 month [expiration] on lottery tickets. And people thought it might end up expiring and go unclaimed."
It would have, too, had the student — who is in her 30s and asked lottery officials to keep her anonymous — not woken up earlier this week, suddenly remembering the bundle of lottery tickets collecting dust in a drawer.
She didn't know that among them was a gift from her father, who had purchased a ticket to test the family's luck when the Oz Lotto jackpot climbed to $50 million (US$39 million) last July.
"She said she thought, 'If I can win some money on these tickets, I can possibly help the family out," Eastman said.
The first couple of tickets yielded small amounts — $16 total.
"She was pretty excited," Eastman said.
Then the woman had the clerk check the gift from her father.
At first glance, she thought she'd won $13,000 (US$10,000). No, the retail store clerk told her, it's $13 million (US$10 million).
"I checked the commas and decimal places and then I realized," the woman told Lotterywest.
"I always remember Mum telling me that if I won the Lotto, not to start jumping up and down in the shopping center," she added.
Had she waited two more months, she would have missed the fortune.
The woman told lottery officials she's not planning a spending binge.
"The people close to me will be looked after and I might give some to research or a charity of some kind," she told Lotterywest. "It's nice to have this much to fulfill my dreams and the dreams of the people around me."
The winning ticket cost $8.70 (US$6.70). The odds she beat: 1 in 45 million.
wow those odds are considerably better than PB!
YEAH MOST STATES HERE HAVE A PLAYER REGISTRATION CARD
http://www.lotterywest.wa.gov.au/games/player-services-tools/708
is WA's for a one off fee of $10 they send you any unclaimed prize you may have won.
as long as you registered the ticket at purchase time with the card on the database.
oh and yeah abou the odds. thats for a ticket cost of about 65c a line in oz $ so about 50c US 2 lines for a buck
"I always remember Mum telling me that if I won the Lotto, not to start jumping up and down in the shopping center," she added.
Actually, I am going to be jumping all over the places. Putting new definition in the word "Bouncer".
Congrats to her lost treasure.
Wow, she is lucky that she found the ticket and didn't throw it away. Congrats to her.
"An Australian student worried about her parents' money problems rifled through a pile of her lottery tickets...
....The winning ticket cost $8.70 (US$6.70). The odds she beat: 1 in 45 million.."
I don't think powerball or Mega Millions would sell so many tickets if they charged their tickets anything more than $1. Frankly speaking people would rather the odds of winning increase than the ticket price increase.
Congrats to her
"Frankly speaking people would rather the odds of winning increase than the ticket price increase."
Give me a break! Speak for yourself. Unless of course you asked EVERYONE and EVERYONE told you !
I worked at a college for about 3 years and let me tell you - if she found that ticket in her dorm room she beat more than 45 million to 1 - ROFL!! Have you ever seen a dorm room? Even a teenager's room is a mess! Lucky her, some higher power helped her find that ticket.
I wish her all the best and hope that the money brings joy.
At $6.70 per ticket you'd only be about half as likely to win as spending the same amount on powerball, assuming that's for one game. If you could buy 6.7 powerball tickets you'd have odds of 1 in 29,141,650.
good point
If i spent over six bux on a ticket i would definitely keep up with it!
coincidence? i just saw a movie two days ago, it about an old woman (a famous hollywood stars i think, i dunno her name) who "feel" the big bang by looking a $20 series numbers, i though it about a rare $20 but it about jackpot numbers 42-33-xx-xx-xx-xx does anyone know the rest numbers since i forget and currious about the movie
thank and good luck
Congrats to the lucky student! I like her philosophy on what she'll do with the extra cash!
i dont get how people can buy a lottery ticket and not check to see if they won after the drawing
yep........a dorm room is pretty messy................correct Kaptainess...........again we should be so lucky as her .......even luckier!!!!......Beaudad.....................
No you give me a break. Why do you think PB or MM have never tried to increase the price of the two? do you think it's just a concidence? please! the PB officials went to great lengths to assure players that they would not be increasing the ticket prices. Oh and when I say "people" I meant majority of players as surveyed by PB. It would be ridiculous for me to carry out that survey, wouldn't it now?
My guess is because she got the ticket as a gift and since she din't buy it herself that she just forgot about it. Maybe she isn't a regular player, so it wasn't on her mind. Who knows.
Could be she was more interested in studying than checking on the status of her lottery tickets.
I just googled it using these words "Woman checks old lottery ticket, wins $10 million" it brought up 19,000 hits and over 149,000 hits in Yahoo.
So it most likely is not made up.
Although I think I know where you are coming from.
You are probably, and I am simply guessing and meaning no harm in saying
You are one of those avid lottery players who feels you've been almost cursed by the lottery and never can get the numbers right yet come so darn close and try so hard but fail every time.
Or you are so darn envious of anothers win that you simply cannot fathom such a story, because it wasn't you who had such an unfathomable event occur to you.
Or you feel the whole thing was set up from the get go and think this women is just a pawn.
Well whatever the reason you feel it is made up, I can only say I wish you the same luck. Yet I can tell you from experience that chasing the numbers is not a good idea and most times never pays off ahead. You would be better off to cool your jets, and live your life. Maybe good fortune will come to you then.
And remember don't take things so badly its only a game.
its not $6 a ticket, its 65c AUD for a 1 in 45 millon chance, you have to buy a min price of 2 lines so $1.30AUD as long as you dont play the same 6 numbers the 2 lines will reduce your odds considerably.
she prob played 14 lines , around the $8 mark. so 45 mill divded by 14, she actually had a 1 in 3.2 mill chance