Australian woman lands $2.6M lotto jackpot — off a ticket she got as a gift

An Aussie woman has won $2.58 million in the lottery with a ticket she didn’t even buy.

The woman, who is from Moonta on the Yorke Peninsula, received the ticket inside a birthday card as a gift from her in-laws.

It sat inside her letterbox for days before she opened the gift.

The lucky ticket, which won her $2.58 million, was one of two division one winning entries in draw 4385 of the Saturday X Lotto — and it’s set a high bar for the woman’s future birthday celebrations.

The winning numbers 45, 42, 3, 32, 37 and 14, with supplementary numbers 17 and 20, were purchased in a 25-game QuickPick from Moonta Newsagency.

The other division one win for draw 4385 was pocketed in Victoria.

“I celebrated my birthday on the weekend, and we were out all day,” the woman told The Lott.

“It wasn’t until we all came home that I decided to open my gifts as a family.

“I received a birthday card from my in-laws in the mail, and it had an X Lotto ticket inside. I think it was sitting in our post box for the last three days, which is crazy to think.”

The woman said, when she opened the card and spotted the ticket, she was feeling lucky.

She said she expected to win a small sum.

The real prize, she added, was life-changing.

“I thought that I would’ve just won $20 — not $2.58 million,” she said.

“I told my in-laws straight away, and they thought we were pulling their leg.

“It’s so surreal. What a great birthday gift.”

The woman said she planned to turn the lucky ticket into a gift that keeps on giving.

“This ticket is a gift, so we look forward to giving back to our families,” she said.

“They’ve changed our lives, and we look forward to doing the same.

“We’ve been looking at buying a house for three or four years, but we’ve had to put it off for quite some time now.

“Buying a house will be the first thing we do, which is amazing.”

Adrian Hatcher, who owns the Moonta Newsagency, said: “Congratulations to the winning woman and her family. We hope this allows you to conquer some amazing dreams for years to come.”