A Melbourne dad has discovered he was the mystery $8 million winner of last week’s Oz Lotto draw, four days after the winning numbers were announced.
The Victorian resident held the sole Division One-winning entry in Oz Lotto Draw 1601, conducted on Tuesday, 22 October 2024.
As the winning ticket was unregistered, lotto officials had no means of contacting the ticketholder and could only wait for them to check their ticket.
“I only discovered it on Saturday morning!” said.
“I usually only check my tickets on a Saturday, and that’s what I did when I woke up on the weekend.”
The Melbourne dad described his shock as he scanned his ticket, initially unable to believe his luck.
“The first ticket I scanned was the Oz Lotto ticket. I had to do a double-take! I was like, ‘What?! What?! What?!’.
“I don’t know how many double-takes I’ve done since. I sent a screenshot to my adult son, and he didn’t believe me at first. He does now!
“I think I only had about three hours’ sleep on Saturday night – my brain wouldn’t stop ticking over the possibilities.
“You have no idea what this means to me and my family.
“I want to give my kids a kickstart and want to see them set up for life.
“I want to be smart with the money – invest it so I don’t have to worry about the future.”
The winning entry was purchased at Central Station News, Shop Lg 13, Melbourne Central, 211 La Trobe Street, Melbourne.
Central Station News owner Shuxia Tang said she was thrilled the Oz Lotto winner had been united with their prize. “We are super excited for our winner. This is the biggest division one winning entry that we’ve ever sold, and we’ve sold nine division one wins since 2009!” she said.
“The last time we sold a division one winning entry was earlier this year in March, and it was a syndicate entry. It’s so great to see our outlet continue to sell division one winning entries!
“Congratulations to the very blessed division one winner!”
The winning numbers in Oz Lotto draw 1601 on Tuesday 22 October 2024 were 17, 1, 28, 16, 24, 26 and 2, while the supplementary numbers were 47, 4 and 41.
Across Australia, there was a single division one winning entry in Oz Lotto draw 1601. You can find the details of this draw here: Aussie Player Snares Entire $8 Million Jackpot