Powerball $100million: Australia’s unluckiest Lotto ‘winner’ relives his near-miss – as expert reveals why you should ditch your lucky numbers in this week’s massive jackpot draw

A man has relived the “heartbreaking” moment he missed by a single digit in winning $40 million in the lottery – as people across the country prepare to pick their numbers in Thursday’s $100 million Powerball jackpot.

Sunshine Coast resident Rob Brodie, 57, thought he had won the division one prize in March 2020, only to discover he was in fact just one digit away from sharing the $80 million jackpot with another winner.

The tenant told me Yahoo he got the Powerball and six of the seven numbers, but he needed an 11 as the final number and it came out to 12.

That meant he took home just over $15,000 instead of a whopping $40 million; something that still leaves him wondering at night what could have been.

The father went to bed thinking he had won the top prize, but the next morning he realized that not only had he not won the first division, but he had also missed out on the division two prize.

“I think about it often to this day, about how close I was and how heartbreaking it was,” he said,

“It would have made for a very comfortable life for me and my two children.”

Embarrassingly, the Sunshine Coast dad thought he had won instead of just getting close and expecting a phone call from The Lott in the morning.

When the phone didn’t ring, the father thought he would still win a second-division prize – which five other contestants won, receiving $188,000 each.

Lott spokesman Matt Hart said people should avoid choosing their favorite calendar dates as everyone does this. If you were to win, you would be more likely to have to share the prize. People can choose a maximum of 35 for the main numbers and a maximum of 20 for the Powerball

Thursday’s jackpot is $100 million – the third largest prize offered by any Australian lottery game in 2024. It is also the sixth largest jackpot in Australian lottery history, according to The Lott.

Because in division two all seven numbers must be chosen without the need for the Powerball, the father has ‘only’ won division three, which requires six main numbers plus the Powerball.

The father said that instead of being able to help his six siblings if he had won the $40 million, he spent his $15,000 windfall helping his son buy his first car and giving much of it to his daughter. to give.

The ‘unluckiest’ lottery winner has been a seafarer in the merchant navy for thirty years and still rents his three-bedroom house.

Ahead of Thursday’s jackpot draw, Matt Hart, spokesman for The Lott, gave his top tip: don’t use calendar dates as they have a greater chance of being chosen by others too, meaning there’s a greater chance of the prize being shared if you win.

“In any lottery game, we often see more division one winners if the numbers drawn are 31 or younger, and that’s because a lot of people mark their entries with their family birth dates and so on,” he shared. Yahoo.

‘On the other hand, if there are a few numbers above 31, we don’t see many First Division winners for the same reason. It is also not unusual for numbers above 31 to be drawn.’

Stubborn logic dictates that any number is as likely to be drawn as any other number, but Mr Hart said there are ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ numbers.

“They are constantly changing, but the latest information shows that for the main suit – where seven numbers are drawn from one to 35 – the most common numbers are 17, seven, three and nine,” he said.

‘While the least frequently drawn are 31, 33, 15 and 26.’

When it comes to the actual Powerball – a number that gamblers must choose between one and twenty – two and four are the most common, while 14 and 16 are the least drawn.