After scratching a $25,000 Instant Scratch-Its prize at Christmas, a Mount Martha family have finally claimed their prize, revealing they first needed time to let the news sink in and make plans for their win.

The top prize winning $2 Instant Scratch-Its ticket was purchased at Inside Story Mornington, Shop 1-06, Mornington Village Shopping Centre, 241 Main Street, Mornington.

Speaking with us this morning, one of the winning family members explained the Instant Scratch-Its top prize win was the perfect Christmas surprise.

“Every year, I buy a bunch of $1 or $2 Instant Scratch-Its tickets, and I pop them on the Christmas table as table settings,” the winning mum revealed.

“On Christmas Day last year, one of my adult kids scratched her ticket and discovered she’d won the top prize.

“It was so exciting. We couldn’t believe it! It was jaw-dropping.

“I buy Instant Scratch-Its tickets every year for the family. It’s a big tradition, and we’ve never won a top prize… until now!

“It made our Christmas even more special. I can’t tell you how happy we were after that moment!

“We were already celebrating Christmas, but the win made the celebrations even better.

“We’ve had this ticket kept safe until we wanted to claim it. We just needed to let the news sink in and get past the start of the year.

“My daughter had a big think about what she wanted to do with the prize. But in the end, she decided she wanted to split it with the entire family – for everyone to enjoy.

“And as you can probably imagine, we were all really grateful.

“So hubby and I will use our prize to take everyone on a snow holiday, and the rest of the family plans to invest theirs.

“The Instant Scratch-Its ticket Christmas tradition will continue every year – but I don’t expect to win big. It’s just a bit of fun!

“But hey, if we do win the top prize again, we’ll be even happier!”

Inside Story Mornington owner John Pugsley said his team was celebrating the top prize win.

“How exciting for the winners,” he said.

“I can imagine they were over the moon – especially being a Christmas win. I know we certainly are!

“We’d love to send our congratulations to the winning family, and we wish them all the best with their prize.

“We love sharing this kind of news with our customers. I’m sure they’ll all be ecstatic for the winners, just as we are.

“Hopefully, this is the beginning of many more major wins for our customers.”