Four days after the winning numbers were drawn, a Melbourne dad finally discovered he was the mystery player who pocketed the $8 million jackpot in last week’s Oz Lotto draw.
 
The stunned Victorian held the only division one winning entry nationally in Oz Lotto draw 1601, drawn Tuesday 22 October 2024. He took home $8 million.
 
As the winning entry was unregistered, we had no way of contacting the ticketholder and had to wait for them to check their ticket.
 
“I only discovered it on Saturday morning!” the winning man revealed.

“I usually only check my tickets on a Saturday, and that’s what I did when I woke up on the weekend.
 

“The first ticket I scanned was the Oz Lotto ticket. I had to do a double-take! I was like, ‘What?! What?! What?!’.
 

“I don’t know how many double-takes I’ve done since. I sent a screenshot to my adult son, and he didn’t believe me at first. He does now!
 
“I think I only had about three hours sleep on Saturday night – my brain wouldn’t stop ticking over the possibilities.
 
“You have no idea what this means to me and my family.
 
“I want to give my kids a kickstart and want to see them set up for life.
 
“I want to be smart with the money – invest it so I don’t have to worry about the future.”
 
The winning entry was purchased at Central Station News, Shop Lg 13, Melbourne Central, 211 La Trobe Street, Melbourne.
 
Central Station News owner Shuxia Tang said she was thrilled the Oz Lotto winner had been united with their prize.
“We are super excited for our winner. This is the biggest division one winning entry that we’ve ever sold, and we’ve sold nine division one wins since 2009!” she said.
 
“The last time we sold a division one winning entry was earlier this year in March, and it was a syndicate entry. It’s so great to see our outlet continue to sell division one winning entries!
 
“Congratulations to the very blessed division one winner!”