Northam colleagues celebrate $1.6m Saturday Lotto win, taking home $58k each

It took perseverance, patience and dedication — and it paid off big time for a group of workers in Northam.

The 28 colleagues had been playing Saturday Lotto together for more than 20 years, each putting $5 weekly into a kitty to buy system tickets.

They finally hit the jackpot when they won a staggering $1.6 million on April 12 — but didn’t realise they had won until recently when they checked their ticket.

“I was in total shock,” the syndicate organiser said after checking the ticket at Northam Central Newsagency.

“We’ve had a few small wins over the years, including a division two win, but you never expect a division one win to actually happen.”

It means each worker takes home $58,000, with holidays, renovations and paying down mortgages among the many plans.

Northam Central Newsagency owner Nicki Malinowski said a big win always created hustle and bustle in the Wheatbelt town.

“Once word gets out that there’s a division one win in town, everybody gets excited,” she said.

“Our last division one win was back in August, so it’s great to have another one so soon.”

The next opportunity for West Australians to take home a major prize is in Tuesday night’s $70 million OZ Lotto jackpot.

The Saturday draw winning numbers were:

5, 45, 23, 27, 7 and 9

Supps: 36, 13