Australian family wins 30 mln in lottery ahead of Christmas

Melbourne, Dec 24: A family in Australia has won a whopping 30 million Australian dollars lottery just ahead of Christmas, ringing in the celebrations early.

Canberra's luckiest lady bought the winning ticket at newsXpress in Woden on December 16, but was unaware she was the proud owner of the golden ticket for nearly a week, the Canberra Times reported today.

"I was finishing off my Christmas shopping today and saw a sign at the outlet urging customers to check their entries because they had sold the 30 million Australian dollar (USD 24 million) winning Oz Lotto ticket," the woman was quoted as saying by the paper.

"I thought I'd better check my Oz Lotto entry but I never considered that I actually had the winning ticket. I never win anything," she said.

The family - whose identity has not been revealed - plan to pay off their mortgage and want to fly first class on their next overseas holiday.

PTI