What would you do with $200m? Adelaide Powerball hopefuls reveal their plans
What would you do with a $200m windfall? These Adelaide hopefuls say they know as lottery fever sweeps the nation for another week.
Lifestyle
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The odds of any suburb recording a major lottery winner are low, but the customers outside this Mawson Lakes newsagent have a little extra reason to feel lucky ahead of tonight’s $200m Powerball jackpot.
Mawson Central Newsagency is one of just two SA outlets to have sold big winning tickets in recent years.
On Thursday it had a constant queue of between 10 and 15 locals outside waiting to hand over their money for tickets in the hope lighting might strike thrice.
Among them were long-time locals Felicity and Dave Tully and Serena Webster.
“We’ve lived here for 16 years and we buy tickets all the time, I’ve had a few small wins here and there, just a few hundred dollars,” Felicity said.
Dave, who has just undergone foot surgery, said he would probably spend the money on his kids.
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“I’d buy a Harley but [Felicity] won’t let me,” he laughed.
“No, we’d pay off the mortgage and buy a house for each of the kids.”
Serena Webster said she didn’t want to miss out on today’s Powerball rush since “everyone else was buying one”.
“I’d buy a house and go on a holiday and set my kids up for when they’re older,” she said.
The three family members said they all felt a sense of social responsibility to the homeless and needy and would likely also make a sizeable donation to charity if one of them won.
Almost half of Australia is expected to buy a ticket in tonight’s chance at a $200m jackpot, despite the astronomical odds at play.
Colleagues Marisha and Julie from steel distributor Infrabuild came during their lunch break to buy a ticket with money pooled from 20 employees from their office.
“Twenty of us put in $10 last week and we won $135 so now we’re using that money to repurchase a ticket, like a syndicate,” Julie said.
“We worked out we would all get $7.5m and that was last week – this week it would be $10m.”
Marisha said everyone including their own clients were getting caught up in Powerball fever.
“They’re like, ‘You won’t see me tomorrow after I win,’” she said.
Both Marisha and Julie said they would use their winnings to simply buy a house.
Julie, who currently lives in a rental in Richmond, said she would also buy herself a house.
“I haven’t even thought about where, just somewhere that’s comfortable so I don’t have to rent,” she said.
“My kids are 22 and 25 and I told them if they don’t buy something now, by next year they probably won’t be able to afford it – even in places like Munno Para they probably won’t be able to get something.
“I’d give all my family and friends a million each if I won.”
Two more customers, Grace and Sue, who have been friends since 1992, said they had a pact to help each other if one them gets lucky and wins the $200m.
The two women said their dream was not to change their lives but but to make their current lives easier.
“I’ve been renting a two-bedroom apartment in Mawson Lakes for 16.5 years,” Grace said.
“I’ve paid so much in rent and I don’t even own it so if I did, I could do what I want with it.
“If I won, I’d buy it off the owner and fix it up.
“I don’t want to move anywhere else, I want to stay here.”
Sue, who has lived in Greenacres for 16 years, said she would pay off her mortgage if she won.
“We built our house over 15 years ago - it’s ours but we’ve still got mortgage on it,” she said.
“It’s not that I owe that much on it but I would still be relieved to pay it off, I mean especially if the interest rates are going up.”
Real estate agent Julia Cristoforo from Lockleys bought a ticket for each of her parents, who are well into their 80s and live at Mawson Lakes.
The small business owner said she would donate whatever she won to charity.
“I think there’s a lot of people in need in the community - homeless people but also women in abusive relationships,” she said.
“I would use that money to house them, feed them, get them out of that situation.
“I like to help people but I’ve never had those kinds of funds, I try to help but not to that extent, not millions.”
Ms Cristoforo said she currently sponsors six children through World Vision but saw as much need within South Australia as overseas.
“There’s poverty here too, homelessness, a lot of people with nowhere to live,” she said.
“I’ve been very fortunate in my life - you don’t need $200m to help people but that money would just mean I’m in a better position to be able to.”
Evelyn and Bryan Moore live in a retirement village in Mawson Lakes and came out to buy their tickets with best friend and neighbour Leslie Bartholomaeus.
“I’m lining up to get rich today,” Ms Bartholomaeus said.
“Everyone I spoke to at morning tea today has bought a ticket.
“I would donate that money to a charity for children suffering from cancer and to Cara, an organisation that helps people with disabilities.”
The retiree, who has been married for 53 years to husband Ralph, has three remaining daughters, after one of them died eleven years ago.
Ms Bartholomaeus said her daughter Amanda was helped by Cara after an accident left her blind at the age of 12.
“We used to raise a lot of money for them,” she said.
“They support people with disabilities to live in a nice environment.”
Ms Bartholomaeus has lived next door to the Moores for 17 years.
“Bryan and I have been married for 59 years so we’d share the winnings,” Ms Moore said.
She said Ms Bartholomaeus was like a sister to her and she loved living next-door to her.
“I’d stay where we are but I’d pull it all apart and redo it in white,” she said.
“When we moved in, it was all cream - the walls and the cupboards and the kitchen.
“For 17 years I’ve wanted a white kitchen but you have to pay for it out of your own pocket, so that’s the first thing I would do - I’d redo it all in white.
“Then we could go on a cruise around Australia.
“And we could get a room with a balcony.”
By 4pm the newsagency still had a queue of over 30 people.
“We usually close at 5.30pm but I reckon we’ll be here until they stop coming,” newsagent Liz Dreimann said.
“We’ve had no breaks since 7am, probably only 10 minutes.”
Ms Dreimann said the newsagency had already sold 1100 tickets and would probably sell 1500-1600 by the end of the day.
“Everyone’s been saying, ‘oh if we win, we’ll come back and we’ll share it with you’.
“Imagine how rich we’d be if they all did that.”
Newsagencies around the country have reported a surge in interest.
If a Mawson Lakes entrant comes up lucky, it would be the third time a winner has been drawn from their local population.
Only one other Adelaide suburb has multiple lotto wins to its name.
Pimpala Newsagency and Gifts can also lay claim to being SA’s luckiest lottery outlet, after it sold two division one winners last year.
As the hype builds following the failure of last week’s $150m Powerball to find a winner, experts have revealed what they think lucky winners should do if their 134 million to one shot comes off tonight.
Unfortunately, they say sports cars and holidays may not be a safe bet though.
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