By Mitchell Clarke
There was no Sunday morning hangover for a lucky Drouin man, who woke up $847,000 richer after scoring big in the weekend’s TattsLotto draw.
The “stoked bloke” spent his day walking around in circles after holding one of six division one winning entries nationally in TattsLotto draw 4077, which was drawn Saturday 15 August.
“It’s fantastic. It’s certainly made life a little easier,” the man said, when asked about his big win.
“I was just at home with my wife going through my Sunday morning ritual of checking my TattsLotto numbers.
“I thought ‘Bingo!’ and showed my wife. She had to read it a few times over before she believed it. We spent the morning walking in circles and double-checking the ticket.”
After 40 years playing the Lotto, the anonymous winner, said he had been eagerly waiting for the day he’d strike big.
“When I told my kids the news, they said it was about time I had won division one,” he said.
“I’ve never won anything like this. I had a big win of a few hundred dollars about eight years ago and I was pretty happy with that.”
The man – who described himself as “pretty close to retirement age” – said the money would be put towards accelerating his grand plans for retirement.
“I’ll give some to my children too. I’d love to help them out,” he said.
“I’ll probably look into slowing down at work and taking a step back to let someone else take over so I can retire a few years earlier than planned.
“With everything happening at the moment, it’s come at a good time. It’s good to have something to fall back on if we need it.”
The winning 12-game QuickPick entry was purchased at the Drouin Newsagency and Tatts on Princes Way.
It’s the first division one winning entry sold by Vanita Haley, who took over the business six years ago.
“We’ve been waiting for years to sell a division one winning entry,” she said.
“Our customers are just as excited as we are. Customers have been commenting that they are excited a local has won it. It’s great for a country town!”
