Powerball winner: Queensland mum takes home $100million prize
A Queensland mother thought she had lost her ticket for Thursday’s $100 million Powerball draw until she found the winning numbers in her car.
The lucky mum, whose name has not been released, says she only looked in the glove compartment after hearing about a mystery winner near her home in Apsley, Brisbane.
“The funny thing is, I almost lost it! I had to stop on my way home from shopping because I thought I had left it there,” she said.
‘Then I put it in my glove compartment and completely forgot about it until this morning.
“I’m scared to breathe because this isn’t real. We’re in complete shock.”
When asked how she would receive the $100 million, the Aspley resident, who hails from Brisbane’s north, admitted she had to take some time to appreciate the scale of the win before making concrete plans.
“We don’t even know what’s next. We’ve worked so hard our whole lives for everything we’ve had, and we’re not living a lavish lifestyle,” she said.
“We’d like to do some travelling. Maybe a family holiday somewhere. We’ve always wanted to see New Zealand and Fiji.
A Queensland mother thought she had lost her ticket for Thursday’s $100 million Powerball draw before finding the winning numbers in her car. (Stock photo, not winner pictured)
Thursday night’s Powerball jackpot was the sixth largest in Australian lottery history
One in two Australian adults were expected to buy a ticket for Thursday night’s Powerball draw
“It’s so weird. I can’t even say it out loud right now!”
The winning entry was purchased from Nextra Newsagency in Westfield Chernside, where several large winning tickets have been sold in the past.
Owner Shannon Hickey said it was “crazy” to see his establishment achieve another big Division One win.
“It’s so exciting! We’ve had so many Division One wins over the years,” he said.
“We last counted and found out that we had sold over $64 million worth of winning tickets for the first division. Now we’ve sold over $164 million!” he said.
‘Funnily enough, about ten years ago we sold a $40 million Oz Lotto prize, which was the third biggest prize in Australia at the time.
‘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 happiest store in Australia!”
‘Congratulations to our winners. We wish them all the best with their prize.’
More than half of Australia’s adult population were expected to buy a ticket for Thursday night’s draw.
The winning copy was purchased from Nextra Chermside Newsagency,
The last six-figure jackpot was in May, when an Adelaide man became the biggest lottery winner in Australian history with a $150 million windfall.
Twelve Powerball Division 1 winners have scooped up more than $592 million so far this year, with five wins in NSW ($210 million) and Queensland ($220 million), and one each in South Australia ($150 million) and Victoria ($12 million).
More than half of the winning entries were QuickPicks and nearly half were PowerHit entries, a Powerball entry that guarantees the Powerball number needed to win Division 1.
The jackpot will increase again to $4 million for next week’s Powerball drawing.