Our Lottery 189 Winner

Ticket Number: 0736395 | Suburb: Mermaid Waters | Prize Amount: $830,000

For Rudy*, a snap decision in a shopping centre led to a massive $830,000 payday and a Christmas to remember.

When we called Rudy, our Deaf Lottery 189 Winner, to tell him that he’d just won $830,000, he immediately thought it was a prank call, but soon realised it was real.

“This is incredible!” he said. “I don’t really know what to say.”

Rudy told us he bought a $100 ticket book while shopping at Pacific Fair on the Gold Coast, where he saw our Aston Martin feature car. 

“I got chatting to Chris, the ticket seller, about what supporting The Deaf Lottery means. It was a completely spur-of-the-moment decision to buy tickets!”

Rudy’s decision not only rewarded him with a First Prize win, but also $30,000 in Gold Bullion through our Book Buyer’s Bonus.

“What a Christmas present,” Rudy said. “You’ve just made my life!”

Rudy said the first people he would contact would be his mum and sister, although “I always talk rubbish to them so they probably won’t believe it!”

We caught up with Rudy the day after the winning phone call to see how the news was settling in, and he told us he was still coming to terms with his life-changing win.

“I’d completely forgotten about it when I woke up this morning,” Rudy said. “It was the most amazing feeling to remember it wasn’t just a dream.”

Rudy said he had spent much of the previous day feeling numb, and like he’d been “smashed by a sledgehammer”. 

“It was a weird sense of shock,” he said. “I’d never thought of myself as someone who had a big demand for things or felt unsatisfied, but this was a complete game changer, and got me thinking about pointing my life in a whole new direction.”

It’s clear Rudy’s win has allowed him to reassess where he’s at in life, and to take stock of what he really wants to do.

“I’ve been on the go working since I was 20 and I’ve just turned 50,” Rudy said. “I was burning out, quite honestly, so this win is just perfect.”

Rudy’s immediate plans for the money are to help out his mother and sister with anything they need, and invest in property. His longer-term plans are to travel once restrictions ease and spend time with friends in southeast Asia. 

“I’m happy to stay put for now. Australia and the Gold Coast are the most beautiful places in the world after all!”

It was at the Gold Coast’s Pacific Fair Shopping Centre where Rudy’s Deaf Lottery journey began, and he remembers clearly his decision to buy tickets.

“I thought, what the hell, it’s Christmas and now … you couldn’t have given me a better Christmas. I had my 50th birthday recently too, but didn’t do anything for it, so it’s like a birthday present as well. It’s just incredible.”

From all of us at The Deaf Lottery, we would like to wish Rudy all the best for the future, and thank him once again for supporting Deaf Australians.

*Name changed to protect anonymity