A Weston dad who missed out on securing a ticket in the lottery game he usually plays is thanking his lucky stars after the twist of fate saw him take home a life-changing $1 million in Saturday Lotto.

The Hunter Region resident held one of the 10 division one winning entries in Saturday Lotto draw 4397, drawn Saturday 9 September 2023. Each division one winning entry took home $1 million.

The division one winning entry was unregistered which meant we were unable to contact the winner and had to wait for him to check his ticket and come forward.

The gleeful man discovered his lottery loot when he went to purchase a bottle of Berocca and remembered he had a Saturday Lotto ticket in his car to check.

“Oh wow! That’s so lucky!” he gasped.

“I can’t believe it. That’s fantastic!

“I’m not absorbing anything at the moment.

“I thought I’d pop into my local pharmacy which is where I purchased the ticket from and buy some Berocca. Then I remembered that I had my Saturday Lotto ticket sitting in the car door.

“I whizzed back to the car and grabbed it out. I came back with the Saturday Lotto ticket and gave it to the team member to check.

“Two team members looked at each other and that’s when I thought something was up.

“She turned to me and said, ‘you might want to get a chair. I think you’ve won division one!’

“I got goosebumps. I don’t even normally play Saturday Lotto!

“I came in the other day to purchase a Powerball ticket because that’s the game I usually play, and they said the draw had already closed.

“I told them to give me a Saturday Lotto ticket instead and I said I’d see how I’d go.

“It’s like the universe was telling me to go and get a Saturday Lotto ticket!

“I had absolutely no idea that this outlet had even sold a winning ticket over the weekend.

“I don’t even know what to say. I’m speechless.”

With the million-dollar windfall opening the door to countless possibilities, the New South Welshman had a couple of plans in place.

“I’ll definitely help my kids and grandchildren out. They mean the world to me!” he shared.

“Then, I’ll see if I have enough to retire – that would be nice!

“I think I might buy my wife’s favourite drink which is a margarita and surprise her tonight!

“And who knows, I could probably buy as many berocca’s as I want now!”

His winning entry was purchased at Weston Discount Pharmacy, 25-29 Station Street, Weston.

Weston Discount Pharmacy lottery manager Lesley Lester said she was overjoyed to hear her mystery division one winner had discovered their life-changing prize.

“We’ve been eagerly waiting for our mystery division one winner to come in and check their tickets and now that it’s happened, we couldn’t be happier for them,” she said.

“We’re still on cloud nine after selling this division one winning entry on the weekend. This is our first one since taking over the terminal in the Weston region.

“Our customer is a local and a regular which is a win-win! We’re so happy for his family and would like to thank him for continuously supporting us.

“Congratulations to the winning family and we wish them all the best with their division one prize. We hope it makes life a little bit easier for them!”