A Victorian mum has had the surprise of her life and is now $580,000 richer after she found an old lotto ticket while cleaning out her car.
The ticket had been sitting in the Benalla woman’s car for more than four months amongst a stash of old receipts.
It had been purchased at Benalla Pharmacy ahead of the Tattslotto draw 4273 on July 2 but she failed to register the entry and was not aware of her division-one win of $580,525.35.
“I didn’t know about the win this entire time,” the woman told The Lott.
“I’ve been driving around with this lottery ticket worth $580,000 in my car for more than four months!”
The woman said she discovered the win when she went through an old pile of receipts and lottery tickets that were hidden in her car.
“I took them straight to the local newsagency to check them and the lovely team member nearly started crying for me when the division one notification came up on the lottery terminal.
“The team at Benalla Pharmacy know me as a regular, so it was a really sweet moment.”
The woman’s family didn’t believe that she had won until she went to The Lott head office and it was confirmed.
“As soon as I told my sister and mum about the news, my sister said, ‘Are you getting scammed? Where are you?’,” the woman said.
“I had to reassure her that it wasn’t a scam. We got up in the early hours of the morning the next day and drove straight to The Lott head office in Docklands to claim the prize.”
The woman said she planned to use the win to purchase her first family home and book a “long-overdue” holiday.
“I’m really happy and grateful to have won,” the woman said.
“This is life-changing for me.”