One local family’s Christmas is a lot merrier after purchasing a million-dollar lotto ticket from AP Newsagency in Byford on Saturday.
Saturday’s draw saw two division one prizes of $1.05 million each go to games from Byford and Halls Head.
On Monday Lotterywest urged anyone who had purchased a ticket for Saturday’s draw to check their tickets, with both winners yet to come forward.
“Our advice to anyone that bought a ticket from Byford or Halls Head is to check your ticket, check it twice,” Lotterywest spokesperson James Mooney said.
“Two WA players could be heading into Christmas with a seven-figure gift.”
But the hunt for the lucky local came to an end yesterday, with Lotterywest confirming the Byford winner had made contact.
The couple in their 50s, from south of the river, arrived at Lotterywest HQ earlier this week to claim their $1.05 million Saturday Lotto prize.
“For some reason I checked the numbers on Saturday night, which I never usually do, but something made me check,” the winner said.
“When I saw I had all six numbers I started squealing, I just couldn’t believe it, my daughter came running from her bedroom wondering what was going on.
“We checked the numbers together and then she joined me in the excitement.”
The woman’s husband said he heard the commotion from the garage and came running, thinking there must be a snake in the house.
Instead of having to wrangle a snake, he checked the numbers and quickly joined in the celebrations.
The couple plan to pay off their mortgage, upgrade their cars, help their kids out with house deposits, and set themselves up for retirement.
“It’s totally surreal. It’s going to make our lives much more comfortable.”
“We called our other child and told them we had some good news to share next time we saw them.
“They joked, you haven’t won Lotto have you, and so we had to tell them right there and then.”
AP Newsagency Byford’s Suman and Subhash Chander said they were thrilled to have sold the winning ticket.
“We are really happy that AP in Byford continues to be lucky for our customers, and that we have again sold a division one ticket,” they said.
The pair have now sold three division one tickets and five division two tickets (including some syndicates) since they took on the business opposite Coles in March this year.
