Australia's true blue Keno winner

Most people who win a large amount of money choose to remain anonymous, but not John Howard!

The 71-year old, who shares a name with the Australian ex-prime minister, was bemused to find himself a millionaire after spending $100 on a couple of Keno tickets at the local pub and walking away with $1.4 million. What started out as a typical after-work cold beer turned into a night of celebration – with a KFC dinner meal before heading home to his bachelor pad in a Victorian caravan park.

“I’d seen all the girls down at the local hotel, they were all running around looking for me,” he recalls of the night of his win in March. “I’m just looking for a young bride, but they’re all after me money!”

John Howard, who works as an electrical linesman, must have been born under a lucky star. He has won several other prizes over the years, the largest being $50,000.

“Just don’t tell Tony Abbott,” he said. “He won’t be happy if John Howard keeps winning everything.”

The lucky larrikin joked that he would “go to work tomorrow and punch the boss”, but has no plans to retire. He also generously offered to shout his mates at the 19^th hole on the golf course on the weekend. However he demonstrated a soft side when he revealed his plans to buy his mum’s old home, which had been on the market since her death in 2014.

Howard explained how he used to ride his bike from Rye into the city for work when he was a young lad, “but the bloody bike… wouldn’t let me go past the pub.” Stopping in at the pub for a drink or two has certainly paid off for John Howard this time – and it hasn’t changed him one bit.

Another recent lotto win went to two Adelaide tradies called Rhino and Jono, who split a $1 Scratchie ticket and found themselves holding a top prize of $20,000.

The pair had been buying tickets from a local retailer for a month during their lunch breaks. Jono revealed that he had told Rhino that very day that they “had to win so that [they] could take the rest of the day off work!”

He explained how they had been reinvesting their small change winnings “to keep the fun going” but never thought they’d scratch a top prize. “We sprinted up to the top of the building site and start showing off our winning ticket to the other workers,” he said once the realisation had set in.

Both tradies have home improvements on the mind with their share of the winnings.

While Oz Lotteries doesn't offer Keno or Scratchies, there is $21,000,000 up for grabs in this Saturday's Superdraw. Have you got your ticket yet? Buy it online now before you forget!