A 68-year-old grandmother from Berkshire Park has won a $2.7 million Keno jackpot at St Marys Leagues Club.
The calm winner, who wishes to keep her identity private, is taking her new millionaire status in her stride, saying it will give her “freedom from stress”.
The winner said she knew she had won the $2,735,523 cash prize but waited until all her games finished before presenting her tickets to the cashier at her local club on Saturday afternoon.
“I handed him two other tickets and I had it [the winning ticket] in my left hand and I said, “this is a big one” but I didn’t know how much I had won,” she said.
“He had to phone Keno and the person said, ‘do you realise you’ve won $2.7 million?’.
“When I said ‘really?”, they said ‘how is it you’re so calm’? And I said, ‘that’s just who I am’.”
The winner, who had a quiet Easter alone at home, celebrated by sharing cash with other club patrons and said she had a strong feeling she was going to win a lot of money this year.
“I’ve been saying to my husband and other people ‘I’m going to win big very soon’,” she said.
“My husband didn’t believe me. Now he does. You attract what you wish for.”
The winner said she had been playing the winning numbers – 1, 9, 10, 13, 22, 33, 43, 73, 77, and 80 – for many years, with the exception of 13, which she swapped out 12 to include on “a feeling”.
“They’re numbers I’ve always played. I used to play six and then I added more,” she said.
“I’ve won a lot on those six numbers but then I realised I could go for the 10.
“When you play Keno, you always hope to win but I enjoy it because I’m a number person. I enjoy numerology.”
The winner said she has no plans to spend her prize yet, saying “everything I’ve got is all I need but money allows you to choose for what you choose for when the time is right”.
Keno spokesperson David Dicker congratulated Keno’s first New South Wales’ millionaire for 2018, saying the team was delighted that a long-term player had won the jackpot.
“Keno loves making millionaires and we love it even more when someone who enjoys playing Keno as much as our latest winner takes home a big jackpot,” Mr Dicker said.
“After turning 12 New South Wales Keno players into millionaires in 2017, this is sure to be the start of a great year for them again.”
