Humble overnight millionaires reveal plans for $50M Powerball winnings

Australia’s Powerball jackpot reached a record-breaking $150 million on Thursday night, with three lucky Aussies bagging an equal share of the prize. Now two of the three division one winners have spoken publicly about what they plan on doing with their $50 million win.

While many people would jet off on a luxurious first-class holiday or purchase a mansion, the two winners – from Brisbane and Sydney – have revealed what they plan to do with their new fortune. The first winner – described as a “sleepy inner-city Brisbane man” cried with happiness when a Golden Casket official confirmed he was one of the lucky winners. The man said he checked his ticket on Thursday evening after the draw and has been awake ever since.

“I’ve been wide awake ever since. I couldn’t sleep at all. But I really didn’t want to get my hopes up,” he told officials. “I can’t believe it. Are you sure it’s me? Are you positive?”

That man modestly declared that he’d love to build a house with his winnings, but didn’t rule out quitting work entirely. He explained: “I’d really love to take some time off work to spend some quality time with my family and do some travelling. The rest, I’m going to have to wait and see.”

The man purchased his life-changing entry at Mater News Central in South Brisbane. Meanwhile, the second winner has been revealed as a Sydney dad who’s still trying to get his head around the news. According to The Lott, the man was speechless and didn’t believe that he’d won. He even told his wife who was getting the kids ready for school and she didn’t believe him.

“I only bought my ticket last minute when I was at work yesterday because everyone else was buying them,” he said. “I thought, ‘you’ve got to be in it to win it’ so I bought one. And I am so glad I did.”

The winner said he wouldn’t go to work for the day while he thought of how to spend his winnings and explained: “I think I might have to take the day off work to calm down and think about how I will use this prize. There’s no way I’d be able to concentrate.”

He purchased his ticket online and like the first winner, wishes to remain anonymous. There’s still a third multi-millionaire winner from Thursday’s draw walking around with a winning ticket in their pocket, with officials revealing it was sold in Ipswich, Queensland.

People from the area are being encouraged to check their tickets and make contact with officials to claim their life-changing prize money. The Lott Spokesperson Lauren Cooney said: “If you purchased an entry into last night’s draw from an outlet in Ipswich, you have fifty million reasons why you should check your ticket as soon as possible.”

She added: “We were so thrilled to hear from two of our three division one winners this morning and now we can’t wait to speak to the third winner. Imagine how your plans for the weekend, the year and the rest of your life would change if you discovered you were a multi-millionaire.”

The winning numbers in Thursday’s draw were 26, 4, 17, 5, 18, 8 and 31, while the Powerball number was 9. Prior to the draw there were scenes of chaos at newsagencies across the country as Aussies purchased a ticket for the draw — which was the biggest prize ever offered by an Australian lottery game.

In the 12 months to 30 June 2019, more than 131.8 million winners took home more than $3.3 billion in prize money from their favourite games at the Lott, including TattsLotto, Monday and Wednesday Lotto, Powerball, Oz Lotto, Set for Life, Lucky Lotteries, Keno, Super 66, Lotto Strike and Instant Scratch-Its.