Sydney mum almost didn't buy $50 million winning Powerball ticket because of heavy rain

A Sydney mum who won A$50 million in Saturday's Powerball draw has revealed she nearly didn't buy a ticket. Photo / Supplied

The wild rain lashing New South Wales almost prevented a Sydney mother from ducking out last week to buy what would become a A$50 million winning Lotto ticket.

The mother, whose identity has been withheld, bought an entry to The Lott's A$50 million Powerball draw and was the only division one winner.

After a search lasting several days, the woman checked her numbers – 18, 30, 16, 29, 6, 33 and 35 – to realise she had taken out the mega fortune from Powerball draw 1296.

"I am in complete shock; this feels like a dream," she said.

"The weather has been absolutely crap and so I wasn't even going to buy a ticket because I didn't want to go out. I also thought there's no way I would be the winner.

"But at the last minute, I had to duck out so I thought I would try my luck."

The woman was initially unable to be tracked down because her ticket was not registered to a player card, meaning officials from The Lott could not contact her.

The Lott then revealed the ticket was bought at Cigarettes Tobacco Cigars at Maroubra in a bid to narrow the search. That was when the woman checked her ticket.

"Then yesterday I checked the winning numbers because I heard someone had won from the outlet I bought a ticket at," she said.

"I couldn't believe it when I realised I had all the winning numbers. I ran straight to my husband and said, 'Christ, I think we've won $50 million'.

"He checked the ticket and we both went into a state of shock. It's thrown everything upside down in the best possible way. It's a dream come true.

"There's no way I will sleep until I see the money in my bank account. Even then, I don't think I will sleep.

"This is far too exciting; we are still trying to get our heads around it. It's so hard to comprehend that we're multimillionaires.

A Sydney mum who won a$50 million in Saturday's Powerball draw has revealed she nearly didn't buy a ticket. Photo / File

"It's going to drastically change our lives. It's crazy, completely crazy."

The woman said buying a house was high on the list of things she would do with the fortune.

"It's certainly going to make life easier. It's going to help us all so much," she said.

"We will look after our family first. I am sure they will have some things they want to do with the prize - and there's going to be lots of shopping sprees. I love shopping, so I can't wait.

"And we might get a new house too, who knows? Tonight, we will be having some champagne and ordering take away. There's no way I am cooking although I don't even know if I will be able to eat. I am too excited."

Last year, a total of A$470.1 million was won between 14 division one winners in Australia.

Six winners came from Queensland, five from NSW and three from Victoria.