A hardworking woman from the Pittsworth region has confessed she initially thought her Gold Lotto win was a practical joke, but she now has more than a million reasons to laugh. 

More than four days after the winning numbers were drawn, a Golden Casket official this morning confirmed the woman was the mystery Pittsworth winner they had been searching for since last week. 

The woman held one of the two division one winning entries across Australia in Monday & Wednesday Gold Lotto draw 3697 on Wednesday 20 September 2017.  Each won the guaranteed division one prize of $1 million. 

The winning woman described the moment she realised she held a million-dollar winning ticket. 

“We didn’t see the newspaper or news or anything. Of course everyone in town was talking about it, but we just didn’t know,” she laughed. 

“But when I looked at my ticket I saw every number.  I thought ‘no, no, that can’t be right’. 

“You know how sometimes you feel you’re missing the punchline to the joke or someone would jump out and say ‘gotcha’?  It was like that. 

“When we realised we really had won, my husband and I stood there just pinching each other. We’re still in shock!” 

The woman explained she didn’t usually buy an entry in Wednesday Gold Lotto, preferring to enter Saturday and Monday’s Gold Lotto draws.

“But for some reason that day I turned around in the newsagency and said ‘give me a Wednesday one as well – just a QuickPick’,” she said. But don’t expect to see flashy new cars lining this winner’s driveway, the woman declared she would be thinking long and hard about how to best use her Gold Lotto windfall. “Life is about to change, but I’m very sensible with money,” she said. 

“We’re going to invest it and make sure this money works for us for the rest of our lives. 

“It will allow us to do everything we’ve been trying to do anyway. It means we don’t have to work as hard.  We don’t have to stress about the mortgage and all those sorts of things. 

“This is our chance to make it work for us.” 

The woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, purchased her 12-game QuickPick entry from Pittsworth Newsagency, 57 Yandilla Street, Pittsworth.  

Pittsworth Newsagency manager Debbie Markey said she was thrilled the winner had been united with their prize. 

“It’s been a hectic few days.  Everyone has been coming in hoping it was them,” she said. 

“We’ve sold other division one winning entries in the past, but this is the first million-dollar one. It’s been an exciting time and had everyone talking.

“Congratulations to the winner!  We can’t wait to sell another division one winning ticket!” 

The winning numbers in Monday & Wednesday Gold Lotto draw 3697 on Wednesday 20 September 2017 were 17, 13, 5, 24, 37 and 26. The supplementary numbers were 28 and 40. 

Across Australia there were two division one winning entries in Monday & Wednesday Gold Lotto draw 3697 – one from Queensland and one from South Australia.