News writer
Aussies were buzzing with lottery fever as the Oz Lotto jackpot soared to a jaw-dropping $100 million — the game's biggest prize in over a decade. With ticket sales skyrocketing and nearly a third of the country taking a chance, one lucky winner has made history.
It may not be as high as some of our Mega Millions and Powerball jackpots have grown to, but it still caused quite a stir in Australia, and the Sydney winner thought she was being pranked when she received the call from The Lott.
Highest Oz Lotto jackpot since 2012
Talk about exciting, but the Oz Lotto jackpot grew to a life-changing $100 million. This is the largest prize pool for the Australian draw game since 2012.
With the excitement of this big jackpot spreading across the country, lottery officials said they were expecting up to one-third of Australian adults to buy tickets for the record-breaking lottery.
To get to this record-breaking amount, Oz Lotto players have seen two consecutive weeks without any Division 1 winners. This prompted the prize to grow from $50 million to $75 million and now to this life-changing amount.
This jackpot run has made the biggest Oz Lotto jackpot offering since four players shared the $100 million prize in 2012.
The winning numbers are in
After all the buzz and hooplah about this big jackpot, the official drawing took place and the winning numbers for the February 4 drawing were 3, 34, 35, 26, 44, 39, and 36, and the supplementary numbers were 5, 45, and 6.
With those winning numbers, lottery officials announced that one lucky ticket matched all the winning numbers to become a single Division 1 winner, and they will take home that $100 million prize.
A dream or a prank?
When it comes to lotteries in Australia, lottery officials actually call the winners to notify them of their big win. The big Oz Lotto jackpot winner, a woman from Elizabeth Hills, said she thought she was dreaming or getting pranked when she got that late-night phone call from the lottery.
She said she just finished watching some television and was falling asleep when lottery officials called. She told The Lott, “It's 10 pm here and when I saw multiple missed calls, I thought, 'Who would be calling me at this time?' I was worried something was wrong!”
Nothing was wrong — quite the opposite. She won the $100 million jackpot, becoming the biggest individual lottery winner in the country's history. The lucky winner said she normally plays the lottery when the jackpots get big, and with this win, she plans on cutting back on work and buying her own home.
The lucky winner told The Lott:
I love my job, but I won't need to work seven days a week anymore – it's actually really nice to think that I won't need to work. I'll finally be able to buy a place of my own … (and) I'll start treating myself more. I'll go on some holidays!
Oz Lotto — how does it work?
Like most Americans, you might not be sure how Oz Lotto works. To play, you need to select seven numbers ranging from 1 to 47, or you can select QuickPick, and the computer will generate the numbers for you.
Every Tuesday after 7:30 p.m. AEST, the drawing is held, and 10 balls are drawn at random. The first seven numbers are the “winning numbers,” and the last three balls are the “supplementary numbers.”
There are seven prize levels, which are labeled as divisions. Division 1 is the top level, with players having to match all seven of the winning numbers in a single game panel to win the jackpot. Each division is for matching different ball combinations, going down to Division 7, which is matching three of the winning numbers plus one of the supplementary numbers.
The odds of winning the Oz Lotto jackpot are 1 in 62.9 million.
Enjoy playing the lottery, and please remember to play responsibly.
Comments