The Noosaville family wished to remain anonymous, but Noosa Civic News owners Alan and Larraine Marchant described them as “Aussie battlers”.

“They approached me before the shop opened and said, ‘We’ve got a surprise for you’,” he said.

“I got a call from Gold Lotto and I knew it was right.”

Mr Marchant said it was satisfying to have sold the winning ticket to people who could do with a few extra dollars.

“They’re regular customers,” he said. “They don’t own their own house.

“They’re people who could well do with it. I was very happy for the people when I saw they were in need and it would change their lifestyle.

“It gives me a thrill from that point of view.”

A Golden Casket Lottery spokeswoman said the couple who won “started jumping around the living room screaming, laughing and crying all at the same time when they saw they had all six winning numbers on the television last night”.

“They said they intend to pay off their debts and become financially free but would continue to work,” she said.

The winning numbers were 27, 30, 6, 11, 34 and 3, the supplementary numbers, 12 and 37.

Mr Marchant, who has owned Noosa Civic News since late 2006, said the winning ticket said the couple had not used a special “winning formula” for their $1 million payout.

They had bought a $6.60 quick pick, Mr Marchant said.

Her $1 million prize will be paid out as an annuity — $50,000 minus taxes each August for 20 years. She received her first payment Tuesday morning.

McNeil said she will use her windfall to pay bills and relax at the beach.

The “$130 Million Blockbuster” instant scratch-off game has 10 $1 million prizes along with tens of thousands of other prizes. In addition, toward the end of the game there will be a drawing for one prize of $50,000 a year “for life” with a minimum payout of 20 years. The N.C. Education Lottery has paid out more than $22.5 million in prizes on the ticket that first went on sale August 5.

The odds of winning are 1 in 1.7 million.

In last Thursday’s “Carolina Cash 5″ drawing, James Peterkin of Apex collected $131,965. Peterkin bought his winning ticket at the Willow Creek BP on Old Honeycutt Road in Fuquay-Varina.

Source: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1204533.html

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