Three long-time Cairns mates have had a weekend they’ll never forget, discovering they won an “unbelievable” $5.9 million Keno prize.
The trio held the Keno Mega Millions 10 Spot winning entry in game 787 on Friday 15 November 2019, and take home $5,918,503.50.
This is the third major Keno prize to land in Far North Queensland this year. In April, a Cairns mum won $1.29 million, while in May a local man scored $1.42 million while out to dinner with his family.
Speaking to a Keno official moments after discovering their private syndicate had scored the multi-million dollar jackpot, one of the mates recounted how they came to hold the winning ticket.
“We’re ecstatic to say the least,” he exclaimed.
“It’s me and two other mates. Every Friday, we head to Cazalys after work and play a game of Keno.
“Normally we get a Kwikpik but this time I just picked the numbers myself. We even joked about it at the time. They were just totally random numbers, nothing special.
“We left before the draw and I just had the ticket in my pocket.
“Later the next day, I got a message from one of my mates saying someone had won the jackpot at Cazalys. I thought ‘you’re kidding me, you’re kidding me’.
“I couldn’t think straight after that. I had to quickly go check the ticket.
“It’s just fantastic. Unbelievable! It’s life-changing.
“I phoned my wife and said to her ‘you need to sit down’. She was in tears.
“I rang my friends and they were beside themselves. We’re all celebrating this weekend.
The thrilled trio has already begun planning how they’ll use their share of the Keno fun money.
“Funnily enough, on Friday night we were talking about our superannuation and how we’ll never have enough to retire. That’s all changed now,” the syndicate leader said.
“I won’t stop working just now, but I’ll slow down and cut back the hours.
“We’ll all be able to help our kids and grandkids. We’ll also have more time to play golf together too!
“The best thing is being able to share this win with my friends. We’ve been good friends for years. Family and mates, that’s all that matters in life.”
The men, who wish to remain anonymous, purchased their winning Keno Mega Millions 10 Spot entry was purchased at Cazalys, 344 Mulgrave Road, Cairns.
Cazalys general manager Jason Wale said he couldn’t contain his excitement to see another big Keno win land in his venue.
“Cairns locals are on a winning streak at the moment. Tess and Luke win The Block with a win of $730,000, a local mum picked up over a million on Gold Lotto and now a whopping $5.9 million winner on Keno at Cazalys,” he said.
“The wins for Cairns locals just keep coming and they each get bigger than the last one.
“Congratulations to the three mates on this life-changing win. I know they’ll enjoy it.
“This is our third major prize in the past eight years. In April 2013, a customer won $1,824,43, then in November 2011 we had a $1,039,010 win here, and now a whopping $5.9 million!
“It shows that dreams and big wins can come true.”
In the 12 months to 30 June 2019, Keno players across the eastern states of mainland Australia celebrated more than 64 million wins collectively worth more than $853 million.
During this time, Keno crowned 17 millionaires and multi-millionaires who collectively took home more than $47.2 million. Seven of these major winners were Queenslanders, including a Mackay tradie who scored a Keno Mega Millions 10 Spot prize worth $5,167,445.
Queenslanders enjoyed more than 25.35 million Keno wins totalling more than $312.79 million at pubs and clubs across the state in the 12 months to 30 June 2019.
Keno players can also enter into the monthly second chance draw for the chance to win $10,000 by scanning their ticket at win.secondchance.ken.com.au.