Dec. 23 (UPI) -- An Australian man said his ritual of letting a store clerk choose his scratch-off lottery tickets for him paid off with a jackpot worth nearly $19,000.
The Hastings, Victoria, man told The Lott officials he visits Lucky Lotto & News Hastings once a week to buy a TattsLotto ticket for his wife and scratch-off tickets for himself.
"Each week, I buy my wife a TattsLotto ticket and then ask the girl behind the counter to round up the total to $10 [U.S. $7.58] using scratchies," the man said.
One of the tickets selected by the clerk, a Christmas Wishes scratch-off, turned out to be a $18,954 top prize winner.
"I knew I had won something, but I had no idea that it was a top prize winning ticket," the man said. "It wasn't until I went to the shop to check it that I realized I had won that much."
"Even then, I don't think I believed it until I claimed it. I don't think it will really sink in until I see it in my bank account," he said.
The man said the money will allow him to spend extra on his grandchildren's Christmas presents and upgrade the couple's planned trip to New Zealand next year.
