Sophie’s Picture Perfect Win

We caught up with Sophie*, our Deaf Lottery 183 Winner, who told her family about her $850,000 win in a very unique way…

For many of us, telling your loved ones you’d just won $850,000 would be exciting enough, but for Sophie and her husband, that wasn’t quite enough.

“We took a few days to tell family about our win,” she says. “Every time we did, though, we took photos of everyone’s reaction. It was amazing!”

There are many great reactions to Sophie’s story, with one of the best being her husband, who was the first person she told after finding out she’d won Deaf Lottery 183.

“He was in just as much disbelief as me,” Sophie says. “He was so excited but had no way to process it. Apparently he spent the rest of the afternoon taking apart a broken chainsaw and putting it back together again just to force himself to focus!”

Sophie’s brand new Volkswagen Tiguan Allspace 162TSI Highline 2.0L DSG

Sophie told us the prize has been a “game-changer”, with both her and her husband approaching retirement age, and something of an uncertain future.

“We sacrificed a lot, financially, for our sons’ education,” Sophie says, “and we’ve been in debt when many people are retiring. We thought we may have to sell our house, but now we don’t have to!”

As well as taking care of her mortgage, Sophie will use her win to drive away in a new Volkswagen Tiguan, give some to her sons, and do some long-awaited house repairs.

“We’ve needed major renovations for about 25 years,” she says. “We thought it was about time!”

“We thought we may have to sell our house, but now we don’t have to.”

As for the future, Sophie has already bought her tickets in Deaf Lottery 184, with the promise of more to come.

“When I bought my winning ticket, I saw the email with the picture of a motorhome and I thought I’ve got nothing to lose!” Sophie says. “Whenever I see it on Facebook I’ll buy more!”

The most memorable reaction from her family was her 80 year-old uncle, who has bought Deaf Lottery tickets himself for 30 years without a win.

“It was quite a moment when I told him,” Sophie says. “I would love to tell you the words he used, but you probably can’t print them!”

From everyone at Deaf Services, we would like to wish Sophie and her family all the best.

*Name changed to protect anonymity