Yahoo Finance Powerball's mystery lotto winner reveals 'funny story' behind win as $200m jackpot split
The historic win will be distributed between two winning tickets.
A Queensland woman's back-to-back lottery win led to her taking home the second half of the Powerball's historic $200 million jackpot.
Unlike the other winners, a couple from Singleton, in the NSW Hunter, who got a call from the Lott to tell them they'd won, the woman's ticket was unregistered and had to claim her prize after realising her numbers had come up when she checked her phone at 6am before the gym.
“I started to pace the floor back and forth and question if it was even real. I didn’t know who to call or what to say. I was slapping my face and telling myself to wake up," the anonymous woman said.
She had actually won a smaller prize last week in the $150 million Powerball, and used the winnings to buy the ticket that's made her $100 million richer.
“It’s a funny story actually. I was really hungry and needed to grab myself something to eat when I decided to pop into the local newsagency after grabbing myself a scone – I don’t even like scones," she said.
RELATED
Powerball lottery: 5 tips from a money expert for what to do (and what to avoid) if you win
The amount you'd need to win to quit your job and live comfortably forever
The woman admitted she's been unhappy with her job "for a while", but said she really wants to continue working and plans to start her own business.
"Some people might question why I have decided to wake up and continue to work, but I have studied hard to get where I am today, and I really want to continue to help others,” she said.
“I really want to change the course of direction with my career, and it was the reason why I bought the ticket in the first place. At the end of the day, money will not change who I am."
On top of that, she wants to buy some acreage and take her loved ones on a holiday to Italy,
An expert told Yahoo Finance how much money you'd need to win to quit your job, but the $100 million might not be enough for the Singleton winner to leave his role either.
The NSW woman said she was unlikely to return to work after getting the call she'd won, while her partner had a different thought.
"He’s a bit in shock. He loves his job, so I don’t know if he’ll be retiring," she said.
The woman said she wanted to use the money to travel and help give her children financial freedom.
“It’s going to help our children immensely," she said. "There’s always a lot of hypothetical questions of what I would want to do but now I’m just lost for words."
What were the winning lottery numbers?
There were also 22 division two winners, who each took home a prize of $177,000.
The record breaking win came after the numbers 1, 12, 23, 26, 32, 33 and 35 were drawn, followed by the crucial Powerball number of 10.
The winners would likely be rushing to financial planners to get an idea of how to live off their winnings, but the first tip experts told us is remain quiet.
The highest jackpot in Australian lottery history was $160 million two years ago and was split between three people.
The odds of winning in the Powerball draw were less likely than the ticket holder being struck and killed by lightning.
Last week, the $150 million jackpot went unclaimed. The peak of sales was at 6.15pm last Thursday, when 7445 tickets were sold in a single minute.
Almost half of Australian adults were predicted to have thrown their hat in the ring.
The chance of winning the division one prize in Powerball, based on one standard game, is one in 134,490,400. You’re more likely to be killed in an asteroid impact, struck by lightning, or bitten by a shark.
Powerball can be particularly difficult to win because there are two different draws, one that pulls seven balls from a set numbered from 1 to 35 and a second “Powerball draw” from a separate 20-ball set.
Follow Yahoo Finance on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to our free daily newsletter.
