A Tamworth family man in his late 20s couldn’t stop shaking with delight after discovering he’d won $1,000 a week for the next 10 years on an Instant Scratch-Its ticket.

The top prize winning $10 Live the Life Instant Scratch-Its ticket was purchased at CTC South Tamworth, Shop 3, Southgate Shopping Centre, 4-10 Kathleen Street, South Tamworth.

“Oh my god! I was going to have a heart attack,” he said.

“When I scratched the top prize, I thought to myself, ‘Wait, wait, hang on! Is this right?’.

“I was frantically reading the instructions on the back to see if I’d won, and I ran to my sister to see if I was right.

“It took a second to register that I’d won a thousand dollars a week for the next 10 years! I couldn’t stop shaking like a leaf – it’s pretty surreal.

“I was close to driving five hours to Sydney to claim the prize in person.

“While this type of money isn’t a lot for some people, I consider it life changing. It’s really made a drastic change in our lives.

“I’ve told my immediate family – parents, siblings and one or two friends. We’re going to celebrate all together on the weekend!”

When asked how he planned to spend his life-changing annuity prize, the winner revealed he would save it for a house deposit.

“I’ll be accruing the prize weekly to eventually put down a house deposit for my first family home!” he exclaimed.

“We’ve wanted to buy a property for so long now, and this has really brought it forward!

“It’s wonderful.”

CTC South Tamworth manager Stephen Briggs said his team were over the moon to have sold their first top prize Instant Scratch-Its ticket to a regular customer.

“We only started lotteries at our outlet a couple of years ago, and we’re so glad we did because it feels amazing to give back to the community when we sell a major prize,” he said.