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7 months ago
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You have to be very lucky to win $20,000 on the Powerball.
So when a woman thought she'd scooped the five-figure sum after a particularly poor run of luck, she was naturally delighted.
But when the delighted woman showed the ticket to her family, they broke her some earth-shattering news.
A woman who was using her lucky lotto numbers for what she said was the last time in Thursday's Powerball draw thought she had won $20,000 and was delighted - but she'd actually won $20million (Stock image)
She hadn't won $20,000 at all - she had, in fact, won $20million with her seven numbers and Powerball combination as the sole division one winner.
'I looked at it and then ran to my family and said, "I've won $20,000!",' the woman from Gladstone in New South Wales told officials from The Lott.
'They looked at it and then looked at me and said, "No you haven't. You've won $20million!"'
The woman said she would have been happy to have won a $20,000 prize, but is now 'in fairyland' over the life-changing win.
'I still can't believe it,' she said. 'I keep thinking I'll wake up and I'll be back in reality.'
She broke down in tears when asked what she would do with enormous prize, telling lottery officials she had been waiting on 'one of (their) calls for years'.
She plans to buy a house and travel around the world with her winnings.
The woman had used the same lotto numbers for years was just about to give up on those digits before she won the jackpot.
'I thought, 'I think I'll keep it for another week. I might be lucky',' she said.
'It's got a couple of birthdays in there, but they're just the same numbers I've been playing over and over for a very long time.
'I've been putting them in each week but recently thought I might completely get rid of it.'
When she checked her ticket on Friday morning, the woman got the shock of her life when she realised it had the winning numbers. Stock image
Fortunately for her, she stuck with the numbers one last time.
'I keep thinking I'll wake up and I'll be back in reality. I'm just coming to terms with it,' she said.
The unnamed woman bought her winning ticket at Gladstone Newsagency & General Store, whose owners were delighted to have paid out their first multimillion-dollar entry.
Owners Kevin and Robyn McNaught said they were 'feeling upbeat' and 'excited to know we have played a part in changing someone's life'.
English (US)