Men Win $59m On Whim
Sydney Morning Herald
Saturday June 7, 2008
FOUR men who bought a Powerball ticket on the spur of the moment have claimed Australia's biggest-ever lottery prize, almost $59 million.
The workmates, from Melbourne's north-eastern suburbs, bought the ticket at Reservoir's Lakeside news agency on Thursday. They are now multimillionaires and will share the $58.7 million prize. "It was a spur of the moment thing," said the man who organised the syndicate. He said he did not even check the 50-game Quick Pick ticket until he heard the winning ticket was bought in Reservoir. The winners wished to remain anonymous, said a spokesman for Tattersall's, Gerry Devine. One of the unnamed syndicate members said he had always believed he would win the lottery and wanted the prize to be a "really big" one. "I think we'll invest most of the money and help some charities," he said. "Last night I went outside and saw the stars and said, 'I hope we win tonight'."Then, facing east, I looked at the sky and saw what looked like the Milky Way and I thought that might be luck." Two of the winning syndicate members are married and the other two are single.
© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald