A stunning theory has emerged about what happened to Sydney’s missing $100million Lotto winner.
The life-changing ticket sold at Bondi Junction Newsagency on Oxford Street for draw 1517 on June 12, 2025, remains unclaimed because it wasn’t registered, leaving officials with no way to track down the mystery multi-millionaire.
Under NSW rules, players have six years to claim their prize before it expires – but The Lott spokesperson Matt Hart said that officials were desperate to reunite the winner with their windfall as soon as possible.
As the search for the lucky winner continues, Aussies have speculated online about what has happened to them.
‘Probably had a heart attack when they realised they’d won or some drunken person who lost the ticket,’ one said.
A second agreed: ‘Might have had a heart attack when they found out they won $100 million.
Others speculated the winner might be delaying claiming the prize until finalising a divorce settlement.
‘Bet it’s someone trying to get their divorce finalised before they cash it,’ one said.
Others suggested they could be overseas, completely oblivious of their life-changing windfall.
The Lott official Matt Hart says officials are doing everything in their power to unite the $100million prize with the rightful owner
The Powerball ticketholder has six years to come forward and claim their prize (above, a Powerball ticket at Bondi Beach)
‘Could well be a tourist that has left the country,’ one speculated.
Some suggested the winning ticket may have simply been misplaced.
‘One thing I have noticed, if you buy a birthday card at the same time as a lottery ticket, the assistant often puts it in the same paper bag, easy to miss when you take the card out. It’s probably been thrown away,’ one said.
A second added: ‘Perhaps the buyer of the ticket put it ‘somewhere safe’ and is still looking for the darned thing as they also try to convince themselves that the odds of theirs being the winning number are almost nil. Sadly, that would be my scenario.’
Bondi Junction Newsagency’s cashier Grace Martino told Daily Mail the winner could have been anyone bar the regulars, who have all been asking about the result.
‘People come through all the time. It could be somebody who passed by; it could be someone who’s a backpacker; it could be a tourist.’
She said lottery officials had the purchase details and were now matching CCTV footage from the store to the exact time the ticket was bought.
Mr Hart said the winner made a major mistake by not registering the ticket.
‘This is the very reason why we encourage everyone to register their entries to The Lott Members Club – we can reach out to you immediately if you win big.
Despite the ticket being sold 72 days ago, Lotto officials have still had no luck finding the winner – even with an investigation underway.
Bondi Junction Newsagency’s Grace Martino said the winner was not one of their regulars
‘We have a team that is collating and reviewing all evidence in relation to this ticket and actively exploring all available measures to unite the winner with their prize,’ Mr Hart said in June.
‘This includes information we cannot release publicly, such as when the ticket was purchased, the type of ticket, and how it was paid for. These are details only the ticket purchaser would know.’
In previous cases where people have come forward weeks, months, and even years after the draw to finally claim their prize, they’ve told us the winning ticket was hiding in plain sight the whole time – in their wallet or purse, on the fridge, or just lying around in a drawer.
‘Our message to anyone out there thinking it couldn’t be them – it really could be you. You could be our mystery multi-millionaire, and you just need to check your tickets.
Currently, there are 17 other division one and 1st Prize wins totalling $16.7million that remain unclaimed across Australia.
The unclaimed prizes include two Set for Live division one prizes worth $4.8million each.
More than half of the unclaimed prizes are from tickets bought in NSW, totalling a whopping $7.65million.
Five tickets remain unclaimed in Queensland totalling $2.75million, two in the Australian Capital Territory worth $5.34million and one in Victoria for $1million.
The unclaimed prize money is for tickets bought between March 2019 and June 2025.
The odds of a single entry winning the division one prize are more than 134 million to one.
