The city was announced as the number one place in Victoria and the second best in Australia for buying division one-winning lottery tickets in the last financial year.
Five successful division one tickets were purchased in Shepparton in the past 12 months, totalling a mammoth prize pool of more than $3.8 million, with one local taking home a life-changing $1,017,643.
Shepparton Plaza Lotto and Lovell's Shepparton Newsagency each sold two of the winning entries.
Newsagency owner Louise Lovell-Brown, who also owns the much loved Lucky Lovell’s Lottery, said the family business had had 54 division one wins since its establishment in 1968.
“We brought our first store in 1968 in Melbourne, two years before lotto started, and then we shifted the business to Shepparton in 1975,” Mrs Lovell-Brown said.
“Every time you sell a ticket you really do hope your customers are going to be lucky.
“It's an amazing feeling when you tell someone they have won — it feels like I have won,” she said.
With the winners’ identities kept tightly under wraps, Mrs Lovell-Brown said she shared a number of special relationships with the lucky locals.
“It’s a nice thing to share with them,” Mrs Lovell-Brown said.
“Years ago, we had been searching for a winner of one ticket for weeks.
“And then finally she handed her ticket over and I recognised the numbers and told her to come out the back with me.
“I gave her a pen to mark off the numbers while I read them out to her.
“She crossed them all off and asked me what it meant, and I told her she had just won the lottery.
“We still give each other a wink in the street,” she said.
The Goulburn Valley also stacked up well and was ranked the ninth luckiest region in Victoria, with seven winners sharing in more than $5.3 million.
Mrs Lovell-Brown said this year she had two winners in the one night and in years gone by had three winners in a single draw.
“I have also had a lady who won and she re-played her ticket and won again in the same week,” Mrs Lovell-Brown said.
Mrs Lovell-Brown said the data showed winning the lottery could be a reality for locals.
“It’s a game of luck, but it could happen to you,” Mrs Lovell-Brown said.
“A win in the local area also helps the economy because people pay off their mortgages, buy a new car or make alterations to their homes — which all helps.”
Victoria was the state with the most division one wins in the past 12 months, with a total of 120 division one-winning entries collecting a combined $218 million.
The news comes with the Thursday, September 17 Powerball draw having jackpotted to $60 million.
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