The winner of the $100 million Powerball jackpot almost lost the winning ticket that delivered the third-biggest lottery prize in Australian history.
News there was a mystery Queensland winner of the massive windfall prompted the Brisbane mother to look for her ticket in her car's glovebox.
“It's a funny story. At the start of the year, I had a really strange feeling I was going to win a major lottery prize,” she said on Friday.
"I told my parents about it, they said, ‘don’t be crazy’, but I just had this strong feeling."
The woman, who was not a regular Powerball player, decided to buy a ticket.
“I was shopping the other day, and it’s coming up to my birthday, so I thought why not and purchased a Powerball ticket," she said.
“The funny thing is too, I almost lost it! I had to pull over on the way home from the shops because I thought I had left it there.
“After that, I put it in my glovebox, and I completely forgot about it until this morning."
She said the win had left her family in "complete shock".
“I’m scared to breathe in case this isn’t real," she said.
Asked how she would spend the $100 million, the woman said she needed time to take in the win before making any firm plans.
“We’ve worked so hard our whole lives for everything we’ve had, and we really don’t live a lavish lifestyle,” she said.
“We’d like to do some travelling. Maybe a family holiday somewhere. We’ve always wanted to go see New Zealand and Fiji.
“It’s so weird. I can’t even say it out loud right now!”
It's only the sixth time a winner has won a lottery prize of $100 million or more.
The odds of getting all seven numbers and the Powerball correct is one in 134,490,400, according to Gambler's Help and The Lott.
The winning numbers in draw 1475 on Thursday were 16, 24, 11, 4, 10, 18 and 23 and the Powerball number was six.
In addition to the $100 million division one winner, there were 3,389,212 wins across divisions two to nine, who collectively took home $67,789,677.20.
There were also 10 division two winners who each scored $188,606.60.
