A group of seven long-time friends will have an extra special weekly dinner this week after their private syndicate scored them a TattsLotto division one win worth over $1.6 million.

The Tasmanian party held one of the four division one winning entries nationally in TattsLotto draw 4097, drawn Saturday 24 October 2020. Each division one winning entry took home a prize of $1,614,571.04.

When we contacted the syndicate leader this morning, she couldn’t contain her happy tears.

“Thank you! It’s actually a win for seven of us!” she exclaimed.

“We’ve been meeting for dinner once a week for the past five years, and every fortnight we put in $5 each and take turns buying the ticket.

“I was just the lucky one who bought the ticket this week!

“We’re a bunch of good friends, I’ve known some of them for decades. It’s an amazing feeling to be able to share this win with them.

“This week’s dinner will be a bit different, that’s for sure! We’ll have to buy a bottle of champagne to celebrate!”

The happy winner confessed the phone would soon be ringing off the hook, as she got to share the good news with her close friends.

“I haven’t told them all the good news yet as I was waiting until it was officially confirmed,” she explained.

“I checked my ticket last night when I saw the newsagency where I purchased the ticket post on Facebook that they had sold a division one winning entry.

“I thought ‘there is no way that could be us’, but I checked the ticket anyway.

“When I wrote down the numbers and checked them against the ticket, I nearly had a heart attack. It seemed too good to be true!”

When asked how she planned to enjoy her share of the windfall, the happy woman declared she would use it towards fulfilling her long-held dream of having a garden shed.

“I’ve never had a tool shed, and all of my tools are just hanging around my garage, so I can’t wait to get one of those!” she declared.

“My garden needs a lot of work, and I need a new lawnmower so that’s the first thing I’ll do with it.

“I also want to help my family do some renovations, and I’d love to travel Australia once restrictions have lifted.”

The regular player, who wishes to remain anonymous, purchased her winning entry at D’s Village News & Lotto, 38 Lincoln Street, Lindisfarne.

D’s Village News & Lotto owner Danielle Newstead said discovering her outlet sold a division one winning entry was a surreal feeling.

“When I received the message we had sold a division one winning entry I had to read it a couple of teams to realise the enormity of what I was reading!” she exclaimed.

“Lindisfarne is a tight-knit community, so it is great locals won!

“All of our customers will be over the moon to discover we’ve sold a division one winning entry! So many of them have said they ‘had that feeling’ that the outlet would soon sell one.

“We’ve only been open for 20 months, so this is the first division one winning entry we’ve ever sold.

“This year has been one like no other and tough times have been felt by so many. It’s so fantastic to know that we played a part in changing their lives!

“We are so happy for them all!

“Nearly every second customers ask for the ‘winning ticket’, and now we’ve finally delivered!”