After 20 years of playing side by side, a pair of Carseldine mates finally struck gold in the weekend’s Saturday Gold Lotto draw and have happily toasted to their $1.25 million division one win.
 
The North Brisbane locals held one of the four division one winning entries in Saturday Gold Lotto draw 4493, drawn Saturday 10 August 2024 and look forward to a total prize of $1,250,721.82.
 
“It’s a bit of a surprise!” one of the winning pair chuckled.

 “My mate and I have been playing for 20 years. We’ve got a spreadsheet and everything.

“I didn’t really sleep last night as I was up thinking about it all.

“I got an email on Sunday morning from The Lott about a win, but it didn’t specify how much we had won. I immediately started to think to myself, ‘Holy dooley! What is the prize amount?’.
 
“I rang up my friend straight away and I asked him to give me the ticket number so I could look up the results of our ticket. 
 
“I looked it up straight away and I was in complete shock. 
 
“I took a screenshot and sent it to him by text. I rang him up and I said, “Have you seen my text? Are you sitting down?”. His wife in the background thought something had gone wrong.
 
“There were a few colourful words exchanged over the phone. It was an awesome moment.”
 
The life-long friends savoured their success with a celebratory drink, excitedly discussing all the possibilities they could do with their newfound fortune.
 
“My mate and his wife came over last night and we enjoyed a bottle of red to celebrate!” he shared.
 
“We also talked about what we should do with the prize and reminisced on how long we’ve been playing together for!” 
 
Their winning marked System 7 entry was purchased at Carseldine News & Lotto, Shop Ct2 Carseldine Central Shopping Centre, 735 Beams Road, Carseldine.
 
Carseldine News & Lotto owner Andy Patel said he couldn’t stop smiling when he first found out he had sold a division one winning entry in the weekend’s draw.
 
“We couldn’t believe it! It’s been quite a while since we last sold a major lottery prize and I couldn’t stop smiling and telling everyone that someone had won division one,” he said.
 
“Our customers are going to be so happy to hear that someone has won from our newsagency. It will certainly bring some hope!
 
“The last time we sold a division one winning entry was four years ago and it’s so good to see it happening again. 
 
“Congratulations to our division one winners! We’re very happy that we could provide them with this happiness and hopefully allow them to fulfil their dreams!”