The Goulburn Valley resident held one of the five division one-winning entries in TattsLotto draw 4487, drawn on Saturday, July 20, and looks forward to a total prize of $1,017,537.69.
The retiree took a little longer to discover his exhilarating win as his contact details weren’t up-to-date, leaving lottery officials no choice but to wait for him to check his ticket and come forward.
“I’m dumbfounded, really,” he said.
“I heard that someone had won division one with a ticket purchased at LPO Tatura, and despite always purchasing my tickets from there, I just thought, ‘It can’t be me. It can’t be!’
“I usually don’t worry about checking my tickets until I visit the newsagency but after hearing someone had won, I immediately raced to grab my tickets.
“I looked up the winning numbers and I just started to say, ‘Those are my numbers! My numbers came up!’ I’ve played the same lottery numbers for 24 years. I know every single one of them.
“It really does hit you in your face — I never knew what it would feel like to win until now.”
Despite spending the past two decades dreaming about what a major lottery win could do for him, the victorious Victorian revealed he would like to spend the next two weeks planning his win.
“I’m going to talk to an accountant and really take it slow,” he said.
“I’m not going to rush into anything. I’ll think about what I’ll do over the next two weeks.”
His winning System 7 entry was purchased at LPO Tatura, 164 Hogan St, Tatura.