Winning way with words

An overlooked word has seen a Narrogin woman miscalculate her $10 Mega Word Play prize by $98,000 in the third big win from a ticket sold at Narrogin Newsagency this year. At first, the winner thought she had nine words out of 10 and was thrilled at the potential $2000 prize. “I thought I had a nice little win, but it turns out it was bigger than expected,” she said. She thought she would leave checking the ticket until she went to Perth, knowing she would need to visit Lotterywest HQ to claim the prize. “I thought I had scratched nine words so I left it there for four weeks until the retailer checked it and it turns out I actually had 10 words,” she said. That extra word meant her ticket from Narrogin Newsagency was worth not $2000, but $100,000. Lisa Fleay sold the woman the ticket and was also the one who checked it for winnings. “She walked in and said ‘oh, I think I’ve won $2000’,” she said. “Then I ran it through the machine, printed the slip and it came out saying she’d won $100,000. “I said, ‘I don't think you’ve won $2000, sorry,’ and held the slip up. “She just went white and started shaking. “She couldn't believe it and I was just so excited.” It was the third big win of the year for Narrogin Newsagency, with another two tickets already claiming prizes of $50,000 and $20,000. The winner said she planned to use the prize money to look after her family. All available profits from Lotterywest tickets contribute to the COVID-19 Relief Fund, which will help those in the community affected by the pandemic.