Hawthorne man bags $100,000 with forgotten Instant Scratch-Its
An Instant Scratch-Its ticket left languishing in a reusable shopping bag has netted a Hawthorne man one of the top prizes of $100,000.
The thrilled man purchased his winning $5 Instant Scratch-Its ticket at Oxford Street News, 134 Oxford Street, Bulimba.
Speaking with a Golden Casket official today to claim his prize, the man recounted how his top prize win almost didn’t come to be.
“This ticket has been lying in the bottom of a bag for a while. It’s one of those bags we take shopping.” he laughed.
“We often buy Instant Scratch-Its every couple of weeks, but this one we just grabbed and forgot it was there. Just as well we checked that bag!
“I’ve never played this game before and I thought you needed more than one symbol. I read the back many times to try and make sure.
“Once we saw we’d won, we didn’t even bother scratching off the rest of the ticket as I saw this was the top prize! You can’t win any more than the top prize."
With his bank account bolstered by his instant win, the retired man already has big plans for his $100,000 top prize.
“It will finish the mortgage off and it’ll be great not to have that hanging over our heads,” he said.
“And possibly a cruise in the Mediterranean! We want to do one sensible thing and one frivolous thing.
“There’s also certainly a nice dinner and some more champagne to celebrate too, I assure you!”
Oxford Street News owner Donna Bradshaw said she would immediately start celebrating her outlet selling its first top prize winning Instant Scratch-Its.
“Oh cool! We’ve never done it before – sell a top prize. That’s awesome! Finally!” she exclaimed.
“We’ve sold a few first divisions, but it’s great to finally have an Instant Scratch-Its top prize under our belt. We can tick the box!
“Hopefully the tide has turned and we’ll see more top prizes from here.”
Last financial year, there were 158 Instant Scratch-Its top prize winners across the Lott’s jurisdictions who collectively took home more than $11.28 million.
It can happen in an instant. It could happen to you.