A North Lakes woman is happily celebrating today after she discovered an Instant Scratch-Its ticket she was given more than three years ago, yielded her a top prize of $50,000.

When the elated woman spoke with us today, she shared how she discovered the forgotten and unscratched Instant Scratch-Its ticket in her bedside table, held a $50,000 top prize.

“The Instant Scratch-Its tickets were given to me as a gift from my work! They were a farewell gift,” she explained.

“I received them back in 2015, but I only just scratched them! There were a few scratchies on a tree. It was a beautiful gift, but I was just too emotional to scratch them, so I kept putting it off.

“I had them in my bag for about year and thought I needed to scratch them. But then when I was cleaning out my bag, I transferred them to my bedside table and completely forgot about them.

“It was only on Saturday, over three years after I was given them, when I was searching for something in the bottom of that draw, that I found them and said to my daughter ‘Let’s sit and scratch them all now! I need to stop putting it off!’

“So we had a lovely time scratching them because so many of them were winners. We had gotten up to about $60 and just looked at each other and said ‘Yes, winning! What a good day!’ Little did we know, that was just the beginning.

“We finally got to this one, which was the last one, and my daughter was scratching it and she said ‘Mum, I think we’ve won a big prize here!’

“And I was just looking at her and said ‘Nah, it can’t be!’. But we checked it, and then rechecked it, and checked it again!

“We didn’t want to get excited because I thought there was a chance they could all be expired! They were over three years old and we had no idea how long they would last for. So then I got a bit disappointed because I knew it was because of my own carelessness that I had forgotten about them, and potentially missed out on $50,000!

“Now I feel fantastic and relieved. It’s so exciting!

“It’s crazy to think this little bit of cardboard worth $50,000 has been floating around my house for over three years!

“Instant Scratch-Its tickets really are the gift that keep on giving!”

When asked how she planned to spend her instant windfall, the happy woman revealed she would share some with her family and the rest would be used to enjoy her retirement.

“We are close to retirement so we see it as a great boost! The rest we will share with our children. It really has come at the perfect time,” she exclaimed.

The winning $4 Tombs of Riches Instant Scratch-its ticket was purchased at IGA Xpress Caboolture Shop 3 & 4, 101-115 Learjet  Drive, Caboolture.

IGA Xpress Caboolture co-owner Amy Zhu said her outlet was thrilled the winner had finally discovered her $50,000 prize.

“We are very excited to have sold a winning ticket, especially because it was $50,000,” she shared.

“It’s amazing that it was given to her over three years ago and she’s only just scratched it! It makes me want to go and check all my drawers to see if I have any forgotten tickets.

“We haven’t had a big win in a while so we were certainly due! It is great news!

“We are thrilled and wish the winner all the best with her prize,”

This is a great reminder to players to make sure they keep their tickets in a safe place and scratch them as soon as possible so they don’t miss out on a win, this North Lakes winner almost did.