$50 million Powerball winner’s close call after simple lottery mistake

A Victorian dad who pocketed a “jaw‑dropping” $50 million Powerball lottery jackpot nearly missed out on hearing about his epic win after an easy mistake with his phone number. 

The Wyndham Vale man learned of his life-changing win via email on Thursday night as the mobile number he had listed on his lottery account was out of date. 

“I actually saw your first email, and I didn’t even open it. I assumed it was junk and deleted it,” he said. 

“But then I received another email, and I thought, ‘maybe I’ll check the app’.

“Unbelievable. Fifty million dollars. That’s insane.” 

The Lott spokesperson, Anna Hobdell, told Yahoo News she didn’t think she could reach the winner because the number on his account was outdated. 

“I sent an initial email urging him to check his ticket and then a follow up email suggesting that we might have an old mobile number for him,” Anna said. 

“It was the second email that spurred him to check his account…then he promptly rang me directly late last night.”  

Anna described the winner as “such a humble man”. 

“He’d often thought about what he would do if he ever won the big one, and now that he has, he’s keen to make a difference to all those around him,” she said. 

He had spent just $6.30 on a ticket, something Anna said was “remarkable”. He chose random numbers instead of the birthday numbers he had opted for previously. 

“I only ever play the smallest entry. You don’t need a big entry to win,” he said.

“I decided to choose number 14 for the Powerball number as it’s my favourite football number.”

He was watching the football with his son when he made the discovery. 

Thursday’s draw was the second biggest jackpot of the year, with Powerball’s prize enticing enough to attract an estimated 3.5 million people to buy a ticket. 

With no division one winners over the last three weeks, the money skyrocketed.

The winning numbers were 5, 6, 18, 9, 14, 4, 13 with the all-important Powerball number, 14. 

So what is the man going to spend his new found fortune on? 

“I can’t wait to also go on realestate.com and browse for houses to buy,” he said on Thursday.

“I never thought we’d be able to buy our very own home after renting for such a long time.

“We’re not going to buy anything out of this world. We’ll continue to be humble and buy a house in our suburb.” 

The Aussie dad said he would also look to “buy each of our children a house of their own”. 

“We’ll all be mortgage free,” he told The Lott. 

“This is so life-changing. I can’t thank you enough.”

The Lott said he was not the only person to pocket a substantial win. 

“In addition to the elusive $50 million division one winner in tonight’s Powerball draw, there were also 1,329,898 winners in divisions two to nine who pocketed $32,008,990.40,” they said. 

“This includes three division two winners who each won $295,715.05.”

Victorian man scores huge $80m jackpot

Exactly one month ago, the life of a Victorian man was changed forever when he received a call from The Lott officials informing him he was the sole winner of an eye-watering $80 million.

Officials from The Lott initially struggled to reach the Altona man after the draw, with calls going straight to voicemail — only for his message bank to be full. After several attempts, he eventually answered.

At first doubtful, the retiree checked his ticket online himself before the reality sank in.

“Oh my God! Are you joking?!” he cried.

“I can’t believe it! Oh my God! I can’t stop crying. It couldn’t have come at a better time.”

The man said his “family had been through a rough trot” lately and “this is just the best news”.

“You have no idea how much this means to me,” he said.

“I’ve never won anything in my life.”

Speaking to Yahoo News, The Lott’s Anna Hobdell revealed she was reduced to tears while sharing the life-changing news.

“I don’t think I’ve ever called a winner that many times to tell them they’ve scored a multi-million-dollar prize,” she said, saying it wasn’t until the ninth attempt that she managed to get a hold of him.

Anna said it was a really special moment to be a part of his life-changing win.

“I must say, he made me quite emotional, and I don’t believe I’ve ever cried with a winner like this before.”

If gambling is a problem for you, go to Gambling Help Online or call 1800 858 858.

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