Powerball winner: Aussie dad makes big $50million mistake after profitable

A Melbourne dad almost missed the news he’d just won $50 million in Powerball after mistakenly deleting the email telling him about it.

The Victorian man, who was watching the AFL on the couch with his son on Thursday night, ignored the first message from The Lott because he assumed it was junk mail.

‘I actually saw the first email and didn’t even open it,’ he said.

‘I thought it was spam and deleted it.’

But a second email made him curious enough to check his ticket on the app – and that’s when the reality of his win hit.

‘Unbelievable. Fifty million dollars – that’s insane,’ he said.

‘I’m just sitting here watching the footy with my son. When my wife gets home, I’ve got some news for her.

‘She probably won’t believe me, but when I show her the ticket, I think she’ll start shaking and crying.’

The man held the only division one winning entry in Powerball draw 1556, drawn Thursday 12 March 2026, taking home the entire $50 million jackpot.

The winning ticket was just a $6.30 four-game entry bought through The Lott app.

A Melbourne dad almost missed the news he’d just won $50 million in Powerball after mistakenly deleting the email telling him about it

‘I only ever play the smallest entry. You don’t need a big one to win,’ he said.

He normally picks family birthdays, but chose random numbers for this draw after a small recent win. He also picked 14 as the Powerball number because it’s his favourite football number.

Still processing the win, he said the first thing he’d like to do is buy a home after years of renting.

‘I can’t wait to go on realestate.com and start looking,’ he said.

‘We won’t go crazy. We’ll stay humble and probably buy something around our suburb.’

Across Australia, there was just one division one winner in the draw – the entry from Victoria.