A Bundaberg dad may have watched his favourite NRL team lose in Brisbane after scoring tickets for Father’s Day, but he still walked away with a win – thanks to a staggering $2.5 million Gold Lotto win. 
 
The Central Queenslander held one of the four division one winning entries in Saturday Gold Lotto draw 4501, drawn Saturday 7 September 2024 and looks forward to $2.5 million. 
 
The winning entry was unregistered which means we had no way of contacting the ticketholder and had to wait for them to check their ticket and come forward.
 
The doting dad revealed he'd been sitting on his multi-million-dollar win for nearly two weeks, only stumbling upon the life-changing news while casually waiting for his dinner at Red Rooster.
 
“Woo-hoo! We’re so frigging excited,” he cheered.

“Thank you very much. My wife and I were in Red Rooster getting some dinner last night because we were too tired to cook and while we were there my wife decided to check my ticket. 
 
“My wife started to get really excited, and I looked over her shoulder to see what the prize was, and I thought I’d won $42. 
 
“I started to get excited over a win of $42 because it was more than what my wife had won which was $3.20, but then she told me to look again, and turns out I was looking at the cost of the ticket.

“I couldn’t believe it. We went crazy! The guy behind the counter questioned why we were still eating Red Rooster for dinner and not treating ourselves to a nicer meal.

“Honestly, we went home, and we couldn’t eat the chicken, and we couldn’t sleep!”
 
The winning man revealed he purchased his tickets during a trip to Brisbane for a Father’s Day footy match. 

"I headed down to Brisbane a couple of weeks ago after my daughters got me tickets to see my favourite NRL team, the Broncos, take on the Storm,” he exclaimed.
 
“The game brought tears to my eyes. I thought it was a disappointing trip because they didn’t win but turns out it was the best trip ever!

“I only ever buy lottery tickets when I’m away from home because I always hear about people winning when they’re on holidays and look what’s happened!

“We’re small business owners and we know what it’s like to do it tough. We know that we can’t let money go to waste, so we’re keen to use the prize wisely,” he revealed.
 
“I’ve always told my daughters that we would buy them a house if I won lotto, and now they’re holding me accountable to that. We’re going to speak to an accountant and see what we can do!

“I’m also at retirement age, which means I could put some away for that. 
 
“It’s awesome.”
 
His winning entry was purchased at Nextra Express Chermside, Shop 1192, Westfield Chermside, Gympie Road, Chermside.
 
Nextra Express Chermside owner Shannon Hickey said he and his team were ecstatic to have sold another multi-million-dollar winning entry after selling the $100 million Powerball winning entry last month.
 
“If we’re not the luckiest store in Brisbane this year, I can’t imagine who could be! We’re so pleased to have sold another division one winning entry to one of our customers,” he said.
 
“Ever since we’ve sold the mammoth $100 million winning entry in a recent Powerball draw, we’ve had customers come in for a chat and to take a selfie with our poster. It’s been a real buzz!
 
“We’re super pleased to hear our mystery division one winner has now checked their ticket and come forward to claim their prize. 
 
“On behalf of the entire team at Nextra Express Chermside and Nextra Chermside, we wish our division one winner all the best!”