A Glen Innes man has declared that “money really does grow on trees” after scratching one of the top prizes of $10,000 on a $1 Christmas Gift Instant Scratch-Its ticket he received as part of a ‘scratchie tree’ Christmas present from his wife. 

The winning ticket was purchased at Schafer’s Glen Innes Newsagency, 276 Grey Street, Glen Innes. 

Sharing his excitement with us, the New South Wales man recounted the moment he discovered his windfall. 

“I received the ticket as a Christmas gift from my wife! She covered a small Christmas tree in scratchies,” he explained. 

“On Christmas night, we took them all off and divided them between us. It was my brother-in-law who scratched the winning ticket. 

“I guess I can say now that money really does grow on trees! 

“We kept the coin he used to scratch the winning ticket, and we’ll be using that on all scratchies going forward. Hopefully, it will work again! 

“You can say we certainly got into the Christmas spirit that night to celebrate. 

“Things like this don’t happen all the time! It’s the only time in my life we might see a win like this, so we wanted to enjoy the moment! Even if we were slightly dusty the next day!” 

When asked how he planned to enjoy his instant windfall, the stoked winner revealed it would take the pressure off. 

“Our house badly needs some renovations, and we’d been saving all last year to get them done,” he explained. 

“The money will go towards those and a few other bills. It takes the pressure off a bit, and we’ll be relieved to get them done so we can enjoy them!” 

Schafer’s Glen Innes Newsagency owner Guy Schafer said he was thrilled to have made his winner’s Christmas even brighter. 

“We’ve sold other top prizes in the past but not for a while, so it’s great to break the drought!” he exclaimed. 

“The customer came in to tell us they had won and it was such a good feeling to know we’d sold a winning entry. 

“Our regular customers will be stoked to hear that it was won by a local to the area. 

“Congratulations to our winner! We wish him all the best with his prize!”