A man in his 40s from Prospect is convinced his mate is his good luck charm after he matched all eight numbers on his Keno Spot 8 coupon to win the prize of $50,000 on Tuesday night.

The winner, who wishes to remain anonymous, confessed the windfall came as a very welcome surprise.

“It was a bit of a shock actually but now it’s starting to sink in,” the man explained.

“I’ve been doing it a bit tough lately and there’s a lot of people struggling at the moment and for this win to come out of the blue like this, it’s quite a pleasant surprise obviously!

“It will take a bit of pressure off, so I’m pretty stoked actually! People do win after all!”

The happy man said he had his mate to thank for his good fortune.

“The funny thing is last time I played Keno with a mate of mine I won $1300 while he was there and I was with him again when I bought the Spot 8 – so I figure he must be my lucky charm!” he laughed.

“I’m definitely going to take my good luck charm with me next time I play my next lot! I told him last night and he said ‘Good on you mate, you finally got it’. I’m going to look after him and take him to a nice restaurant!”

The winner couldn’t finish his dinner when he realised he’d won $50,000!

“When I was filling out the coupon, I was in a bit of a hurry when I was choosing my last bunch of numbers so I jotted them down and accidently missed marking some of my favourites. I thought oh well, I won’t bother crossing it out and see how I go!” he explained.

“Lo and behold when I pulled up to get a pizza on my way home, I checked my ticket and the guy couldn’t tell me what I’d won and said I’d have to go to head office – I thought ‘mmmm interesting!’ I looked up the results and there it was $50,000!

“I’d only had one bite out of my pizza and I couldn’t finish the rest! I couldn’t eat, my stomach was churning!”

The grateful winner said the windfall would be put to good use.

“It’s a nice little kick starter – it’s not just three grand and you know by the time you’ve run around and paid everyone you’re still $300 short. But this is a good little cushion which will go a long way,” he said.

“I’m going to put a bit of it away to save for a rainy day, and I’m looking at a car I want to get.

“I’ll give my family some as well. They get by but this will give them a bit of  a thank you. Makes you feel good helping people out.”

The winning Spot 8 Keno entry was purchased at the Empire Hotel, 414 Prospect Road in Kilburn.

John McGuire is the manager of the Empire Hotel and said he was thrilled to have sold a $50,000 prize to one of the Hotel’s customers.

“Congratulations to our winning customer. We wish them all the best with their Keno Spot 8 windfall,” Mr McGuire said. 

“We have lots of regular Lotto and Keno customers and it’s great to see one of them win big.

“We hope we have heaps more big winners soon!”

Keno is a game whereby 20 numbers are randomly generated from a possible 80. To win a Keno Spot 8 prize, a player must match all eight of the numbers selected on their ticket against the 20 numbers drawn.

Keno draw results are available online at thelott.com/salotteries.