A West Wallsend man is thanking a spur-of-the-moment decision to change his Keno numbers for scoring him a Keno Classic 8 Spot prize worth over $51,000.
The happy winner held a Keno Classic 8 Spot winning entry in draw 171, drawn Tuesday 22 December 2020 and takes home a total prize of $51,700.80.
Sharing his excitement with a Keno official this morning, the stoked bloke recounted the moment he discovered the thrilling win.
“It’s just bloody good! What can I say?” he exclaimed.
“Whenever I am in the club, I put on a $20 Kwikpik ticket.
“The most I’ve ever won before that is $87.
“For some reason today when I came in, I thought ‘I won’t do a Kwikpik’ and decided to change it up.
“Instead, I marked the coupon with some random numbers I chose.
“I went off to grab a drink and then came back and saw that someone had won $51,700!
“The team at the counter were telling me to check my ticket in case it was me. I told them to ‘get lost’ as I didn’t think it would be true.
“When I scanned my ticket and realised it was me, everyone was thrilled. I think they were happier than me because I was in shock!”
When asked how he planned to enjoy his Keno fun money, the generous winner said he would be sharing it with friends.
“I’ll use half of it towards buying a mate a new car or a new bathroom. She needs either one!” he declared.
“I’ll keep half of it for myself, but I’ll just put it in the bank for later. I think with everything going on during COVID it will be good to sit on it for a while.”
The winning entry was sold at West Wallsend Workers Club, 51-53 Carrington Street, Wallsend West.
West Wallsend Workers Club CEO David Jackson said he was thrilled a regular patron had scored such a wonderful prize.
“This is the biggest Keno prize we’ve ever sold, so we are stoked!” he exclaimed.
“We’ve sold a few $10,000 prizes over the years, but it’s been a while since we’ve had a big prize, so everyone is very excited.
“We’ll be telling all of our patrons about the win, and we have no doubt they will be happy to hear a local has scored a win.
“Congratulations to our winner! We wish him all the best with his prize!”
Between 1 July 2019 and 30 June 2020, Keno players across the eastern states of mainland Australia celebrated more than 58.4 million wins collectively worth more than $776.79 million.
During this time, Keno crowned 17 millionaires and multi-millionaires who collectively took home more than $38.72 million. Ten of these major winners were from New South Wales and the ACT, including a Newcastle woman who was stunned to pocket a Keno Mega Millions 10 Spot prize of more than $5.4 million.
Players in New South Wales and the ACT enjoyed more than 26.69 million Keno wins totalling more than $386.39 million in the 12 months to 30 June 2020.
Keno players can also enter into the monthly second chance draw for the chance to win one of five $1,000 prizes by scanning their ticket at win.secondchance.keno.com.au.