A Wagga man has turned dire times into an enormous payout, winning up to $15 million on the Lotto overnight.
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His was the only division one winner in the nationally held Oz Lotto draw last night.
The win comes after a decade of persistent participation in the draw.
"I have been buying them lottery tickets for years and years," he said when an official informed him of his winning ticket.
"I always hoped we'd win something small to share [with the family] but never thought we'd win $15 million! "This is so overwhelming. Oh my goodness."
In other news:
The official joined the family via a conference call on Wednesday. Speaking with the man's adult children, the family responded by asking "is this some kind of joke?"
"We didn't even know we had an entry into last night's draw," said one of the winner's children.
"I think we're are in shock. We had no idea."
Having spent the past several weeks in isolation the family say they have plenty of time to discuss how the money will be spent once the COVID-19 pandemic has passed.
The ticket was purchased at Nextra in the Sturt Mall, but shop assistant Charlotte Ryan said she was unsure whether it had been her or a colleague that had sold the lucky ticket.
"I was shocked when I found out, I didn't really process what I was reading for a while," Ms Ryan told The Daily Advertiser.
"I was just looking on the notification terminal when I saw it, $15 million, we've been telling all our customers all day."
It is not the first division one winner the newsagency has been responsible for either.
Since 2017 - coincidentally, the same year Ms Ryan began working there - the newsagency has sold seven top winning tickets, with the last before now being in November 2019.