The suspense has ended as the mystery Queenslander, who won the entire $100 million Powerball jackpot alone overnight, has finally come forward to bag her windfall.
The Aspley woman's discovery of her newfound fortune came after nearly losing her ticket, which was left in her car's glovebox until she heard a local news report about an unclaimed jackpot won by a mystery winner.
The Queensland mum shared her disbelief and excitement while speaking about the moment she realized she had won.
She has secured not only the title of the state’s biggest lottery winner, but also the third-biggest lottery winner in Australian history.
“It's a funny story. At the start of the year, I had a really strange feeling I was going to win a major lottery prize,” she said.
"I told my parents about it, they said, ‘Don’t be crazy’, but I just had this strong feeling.
“I haven’t been playing Powerball, so I thought, ‘Well, how am I going to win if I don’t buy a ticket?’.
“I was shopping the other day, and it’s coming up to my birthday, so I thought ‘Why not?’ and purchased a Powerball ticket.
“The funny thing is too, I almost lost it! I had to pull over on the way home from the shops because I thought I had left it there.
“After that, I put it in my glovebox, and I completely forgot about it until this morning.
“I’m scared to breathe in case this isn’t real. We’re in complete shock.”
When asked how she might enjoy $100 million, the Brisbane winner admitted she’d need a moment to fathom the enormity of the win before making any firm plans.
“We don’t even know what’s next. We’ve worked so hard our whole lives for everything we’ve had, and we really don’t live a lavish lifestyle,” she said.
“We’d like to do some travelling. Maybe a family holiday somewhere. We’ve always wanted to go see New Zealand and Fiji.
“It’s so weird. I can’t even say it out loud right now!”
The winning entry was purchased at Nextra Chermside Newsagency, Shop 385, Westfield Chermside, Gympie Road, Chermside.
Nextra Chermside Newsagency owner Shannon Hickey said it was “crazy” to see another big division one win land at his outlet.
“It’s so exciting! We’ve had so many division one wins over the years. We counted up the other day and realised we’d sold division one winning tickets worth more than $64 million. Now we’ve sold over $164 million!” he said.
“Funnily enough, about a decade ago, we sold a $40 million Oz Lotto prize and at the time, that was the third biggest win in Australia. Now, this $100 million Powerball prize is the third-biggest win in Australia and the biggest in Queensland.
“It’s just fantastic and means we are the luckiest store in Australia!
“Congratulations to our winners. We wish them all the very best with their prize.”
In addition to the $100 million division one winner, there were 3,389,212 wins across divisions two to nine in last night’s Powerball draw who collectively took home $67,789,677.20. There were also 10 division two winners who each scored $188,606.60.
The winning numbers in Powerball draw 1475 on Thursday 22 August 2024 were 16, 24, 11, 4, 10, 18 and 23. The all-important Powerball number was 6.
You can find the details of this draw here: Lone Punter Steals Entire Powerball Jackpot
