Australian Lottery Online

Nothing better than YouTube to recall a major headline that shook Australia bigtime: the winning number combination for the $90 Million Oz Lotto by June 30th, 2009. Take a chance to watch the video and the news report that went with the event.

$100 Million Lotto: The big winners could be … Buddhists or Humpty Dumpty
(TIM ELLIOTT AND KELSEY MUNRO – June 30, 2009, Sydney Morning Herald)KING of the Cross John Ibrahim has a ticket. Joe Hockey has two. The Australian Communist Party has formed a syndicate, and the Buddhists are punting, too.

It seems everyone has a stake in tonight’s record-breaking $90 million Oz Lotto draw – the richest prize ever offered in any Australian lottery – from the homeless to the pious.

Some 10 million tickets have been sold for tonight’s jackpot, which ballooned last week when the first division offer of $59,295,155.45 “rolled over”. While the chance of an individual winning the prize has been pegged at one in 45 million, a large number of sales have been to syndicates, including one organised by Hannah Middleton, the secretary-general of the Communist Party of Australia.

“Me and three other members of the party have thrown in $5 each,” Ms Middleton said. “We don’t have much faith in winning, but the momentary burst of hope is pleasant. After all, we are the working-class party and the working class in Australia have never been averse to the odd flutter.”

Should she win, Ms Middleton would spend the money “standing more Communist candidates for election, helping those who have lost their homes in the economic crisis, funding Aboriginal medical centres, campaigning harder to get our troops out of Afghanistan and paying to send some of our politicians on a very long holiday”.

The Kings Cross nightclub owner John Ibrahim had also bought a ticket, the winnings from which would be used to build orphanages in South-East Asia, “because everyone needs a reason to live, to hope and to dream”. And any money left over would be used to pay his legal fees, said Ibrahim’s lawyer, Stephen Alexander.

Daniel Chan, the secretary of the Australian Chinese Buddhist Society, was planning to buy a ticket when the Herald spoke to him. “Well why not?” he said. “It’s a truckload of cash, right?”

Mr Chan was dreaming of “doing some extensions to our Mingyue Lay temple in Bonnyrigg, and by creating branches to propagate Buddhism. And, of course, we would make some charitable donations, as we always do.”

And the federal Liberal Party frontbencher Joe Hockey confirmed he had bought two tickets. A spokeswoman for Mr Hockey said he planned to give any winnings to the Humpty Dumpty Foundation, which buys equipment for children’s hospitals.

Even the Islamic community has been having a cheeky punt. “The Koran explicitly prohibits gambling,” said Keysar Trad, the spokesman for Sheikh Taj El-Din Hilaly. “Still, at my local newsagency I have seen people who are obviously Muslim buying tickets for the draw. And no, the sheikh hasn’t bought a ticket.”

A homeless man, Adam Glover, said if he won the jackpot, “I’d buy somewhere to live.”

Oz Lotto winners from Queensland, South Australia
(BY MARISSA CALLIGEROS AND CHRISTINE KELLETT – 1/07/2009 9:50:00 AM, Illawarra Mercury – Brisbane Times)

A middle-aged Gold Coast couple have become instant millionaires after winning last night’s bumper Oz Lotto jackpot. The pair, who won with a $37.80 Jumbo Quick Pick ticket, went off to work this morning, despite their new super-rich status. They intend to share the booty among family and donate some to charity.

“They watched the draw on television last night but just weren’t prepared to let themselves believe that they had won until we called them,” Golden Casket spokeswoman Bianca Green said.

The couple bought the winning ticket at the Lucky Mermaid News agency at Mermaid Beach and will share the record $106.45 million prize with a second division one winner – an Adelaide man in his 40s. Each will pocket $53.2 million. The couple want to remain anonymous and will go to work today.

“It is business as usual for them today. They are going to work,” said Golden Casket spokeswoman Karen Anning, who spoke to the pair earlier. “They said they had to check their numbers multiple times last night. “When they got the call this morning solidifying their winnings, they said ‘I was hoping to hear from you this morning’.” “They are tossing around ideas on how they will spend their money.”

The Adelaide winner will also keep his identity a secret as the windfall sinks in. “I couldn’t move, I couldn’t react, I couldn’t do anything but sit there and stare at my ticket,” he told the SA Lotteries website after the announcement. “I really have no clue what to do with that kind of money — a financial adviser will definitely be my first stop,” he said. “I might take a holiday to Melbourne or Sydney to give me time to think about what I could possibly do with $50 million.”

Australia’s largest ever lotto jackpot sparked a ticket buying frenzy yesterday with 10 million entries sold. The Oz Lotto website crashed immediately after the winning numbers were drawn live on Channel Seven at 8.50pm last night.

The Adelaide winner has been a regular Oz Lotto player for more than 20 years, and paid $15.05 for his winning ticket, according to the SA Lotteries website. The site said the man had declined media interviews, but issued a statement in which he declared: “Right now, I can’t stop shaking and I’m in a state of shock.” He said he would share his prize with family members and to numerous charities.