7 million euros won with old lottery ticket

Record jackpot winner from Styria played a system ticket that had already proven itself lucky once before

Late on Monday morning, the phone rang at Austrian Lotteries’ Customer Service Centre: “It’s me, I’m the one who got six correct picks yesterday.” After the caller first agreed with the staff member in charge of Austrian Lotteries’ jackpot winners that he would deal with all the formalities the following week, the bell rang about three hours later. This time, the caller was standing at the entrance to the Customer Service Centre – it was the man with the six correct picks, with his wife in tow. He wanted to place the ticket, which a quirk of fate had turned into a financial document worth millions of euros, into the safe hands of Austrian Lotteries as soon as possible, “to make sure that nothing happens to it.”

The background: On Sunday, a six-fold Lotto jackpot had been in play, which ultimately led to the highest Lotto win ever recorded in Styria: about 7.3 million euros went to the owner of that ticket, which he had played on Sunday at noon in a retail outlet in his hometown of Graz.

As a father of several adult children, all of whom were likewise gainfully employed, he happened to see the draw on TV, and he knew right away: “Something’s going on. Those numbers seem familiar somehow.” They didn’t have a special meaning to him right away, but he recalled that he had scored a winner not so long ago with exactly this betting slip, a system slip with nine chosen numbers: “I didn’t score a six... but definitely more than three,” he grinned.

He doesn’t play every week, “only when it feels right, and with the six-fold jackpot it just felt right”. He doesn’t always play with the same betting slip either, “but I kind of felt that this system slip I had saved because of this one win might be a good fit for this draw”.

Of course, this win packed an emotional punch for him and his wife, especially when he realised that not only were the “six correct picks” among his nine ticked numbers, but that it was the only “six correct” in this draw, resulting in a 7-million-euro win. 

He is self-employed and has experience in handling money, even a lot of money, which is how he explained the fact that he felt relatively composed at present. “I or rather we will be quite sensible winners; firstly, we will use the money for family needs and secondly, for our ongoing business,” he replied when asked about what he would do with his windfall.