Noosa Heads local wins!

When the winner of Mater Prize Home lottery No. 256 saw multiple missed calls on her mobile on 18 December 2014, she wondered why the caller didn’t leave a message.

Little did she know, it was Mater Foundation’s Chief Executive Officer, Nigel Harris, with a team of Mater Lotteries staff holding their breath anticipating her answer.

Being too busy at work to answer the phone—she completely forgot about the phone calls, until the following Tuesday when her whole life changed with a simple letter.

“I picked up the letter and noticed it was quite thick,” she said. “There were brochures in it, and at first I thought ‘Do they want me to sell tickets for them?’ then I read the first two lines of the letter and couldn’t believe it.”

By the time the winner found out about her win, it was too late to call Mater Foundation to confirm.

But she knew it was true.

The Noosa Heads local had planned to go to Maroochydore to do her Christmas shopping that night, but she had to get her partner to come and drive her.

“I’ve been more cautious about it all,” he said. “I’ve been saying “Wait until it’s all confirmed and it’s ours,” but she has been the opposite—she was so certain about it!”

The lucky supporter signed up as a VIP at the supermarket one day, and has been receiving her monthly tickets ever since.

“Once I went to the supermarket and there was a young guy sitting outside. On my way out I went and spoke to him about the lottery. It’s a good cause, I don’t gamble and we don’t have a house, so I thought ‘why not’ and signed up. Ever since I’ve got my tickets each month and put them on the fridge. I’ve always had a good feeling and thought ‘I’m going to win this one day’.

And thanks to her support and a bit of luck, she was right.

The ecstatic winner called her sister first, who was completely shocked by the news.

“She just said ‘Oh my god, oh my god’ over and over”. Everyone’s been so nice about it—saying it couldn’t have happened to nicer people. My boss’s wife cried when I told her at work the next day!”

She doesn’t know what she will do with her $2 million apartment just yet, but she has sought financial advice.

“We want to be smart about it,” she said. “We will at least keep it for a while because we want everyone to be able to come and see it! It’s an awesome location, so close to everything—and that view!”

Her life-changing win will allow her to drop one of her three jobs which she currently works over a gruelling seven day week.

“Everyone’s been saying to take time off, but I don’t want to let anyone down. In the long run it will mean we can work less.”

Your support of the Mater Prize Home lottery means you could very well be the next big winner of your very own house —buy your tickets today!