The rate of ticket sales for the 18 July draw exceeded 5,000 per minute at its highest, with up to a third of Australians taking part in the historic draw. The numbers for the Powerball draw were 1, 6, 11, 13, 16, 23 and 27, with a Powerball of 11.
Three Powerball Winners
Only three players matched all seven main numbers and the Powerball to win in the first division – each will come away with over AU$36 million in prize money. More than 3.5 million participants won a prize in the draw, with a total of around AU$170 million allocated to all prize divisions.
The three tickets were sold in Adelaide, Sydney and the Macedon Ranges north of Melbourne respectively. The Adelaide and Sydney ticket-holders were successfully contacted after the draw, though the Macedon Ranges winner is unregistered, and hence cannot be reached. A spokesperson for the Australian Lottery explained: “We don’t know who they are. They will need to check their ticket and contact us.”
“I might quit my job”
The Adelaide multi-millionaire was revealed to be a young man who entered the draw using a Powerhit ticket, which also won him several second division prizes - bringing his total winnings up to over AU$37 million. His first reaction when contacted with the good news was one of shocked silence: “…wow. Thank you so much. That is incredible. I can’t believe that. I am shaking so much!”
“I might quit my job,” he said when asked about his plans for the future, “[but] I don’t know, I’m still in shock.” He also shared plans to take his family around the world, pay off his extended family’s mortgages, and give generously to charity.
The Sydney winner was revealed to be a medical research professional with a young family. When asked about her future plans as a multi-millionaire, she said she’d be keeping her job: “I love my job[, ] so I won’t be giving that up – but I do hope to use the money in a meaningful way.”
Eight Weeks of Rollovers
The record-breaking Powerball jackpot came to be after eight weeks of consecutive rollovers; the prize was just AU$1 million shy of beating the largest ever jackpot in Australian history, a first division Oz Lotto prize won in 2012 by four ticket-holders. It is the second Powerball record set this year, with a January jackpot of AU$107 million becoming the largest ever Australian jackpot to be won by a single ticket.
