Lottery winners are cautioned to be on the lookout for gold diggers. But what happens when lottery winners turn out to be gold diggers? Real, authentic gold miners.
Mining for gold in Western Australia. Last Thursday, twenty employees experienced financial success—but not in the way you might think.
Twenty night shift miners at the Kalgoorlie-Boulder gold mine in Western Australia have experienced exactly that. On Thursday, they won the grand prize—a AU$53 million Powerball jackpot.
Chris Wood, the mine manager, is hoping they stay. They are “excellent workers,” he told ABC, and comprise his “best shift.”
When he hired them, it seems like he hit gold. Unfortunately for Wood, there isn’t much to keep the miners there. Their 20-person syndicate has increased its wealth by AU$2.6 million each.
First-Time Winners
For a group of people accustomed to sluicing and dredging in the dirt for long hours in the search of riches, one winning miner told local radio station 6PR that lottery success had been almost instantaneous. The winning draw had been the first time the syndicate had played.
“We just couldn’t believe it, we all put $100 in, spur of the moment sort of thing,” the miner, known only as “Peter,” told 6PR. “This was a one-off because it was a big draw … I couldn’t believe it, I checked the ticket about 10 times,” he added.
Thursday’s Powerball prize was AU$160 million, an Australian record. The jackpot was split three ways with two other winners, a dad from New South Wales and a man from Victoria.
This is the second time in a year that residents of the remote mining town in Western Australia, around 400 miles from Perth, have hit it big on the lottery. In February, 250 Kalgoorlie residents pooled their tickets to claim a A$63 million jackpot, News.com.au reports.
Kalgoorlie is so remote that syndicate members will have to make a 13-hour round trip to pick up the checks.
‘Still Loading Trucks’
Meanwhile, one of the miners suggested in a video uploaded to Facebook that she might stick around after all.
“So yeah, there’s 18 at my work who are now millionaires,” she explained, although all other reports claim 20. “You know how they say, one Powerball and I’m out of here? Well, it ain’t true. I’ve known since the start of my shift and I’m still loading trucks.”
That offers a glimmer of hope for Wood, the miners’ distraught boss. But as he probably knows only too well, all that glitters is not gold.
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