QHA_March 2018_Electronic_s

NEWS
AYR PUB PATRON
LEAVES A FARMER
AND RETURNS A
MILLIONAIRE
A North Queensland cane farmer is getting ready to
buy more than just a tinnie after winning a $2.9 million
Keno jackpot at the Burdekin Hotel.
It was like any other afternoon at the Burdekin Hotel
on Saturday, 17 February. A few regulars were in,
sharing a drink and stories of their working week while
escaping the smothering heat.
It was around 1:30pm when hotel duty manager Mark
Strong looked up from clearing some glasses to see
the Keno display screen light up – $2,911,248 had
been won there!
Some time went by and, despite the excitement, noone
in the busy venue went up to claim it.
Strong says he immediately had a hunch who the
winner was and phoned several names in the local
phone book before finding the 35 year-old cane farmer
at his family property. He told him what he suspected,
urging him to “come back to town and check your
ticket”.
“I’m still shaking a bit,” the winner said moments
after Mark’s hunch proved right – all 10 of his Keno
numbers had indeed come up. He’d left a farmer and
walked back in as a millionaire.
“I didn’t know what to think when Mark rang me. I just
occasionally come in and have a couple of drinks and
put a Keno ticket on,” he said.
The jackpot is the second to be won at a North
Queensland hotel this year. The first was a $1.5 million
cash prize, won by two Cairns mates having a lunch
catch-up at the Balaclava Hotel on Sunday, 7 January.
Keno’s newest Queensland hotel winner explained he
normally would have thrown out the ticket that won
him the whopping 10-number jackpot, but for some
reason decided to replay the same numbers.
“This one, I played for a couple of times. Normally, if it
[the ticket] doesn’t come up with anything I get rid of
the ticket and pick new numbers. If they come up with
something, I keep playing them.
“This one didn’t come up with anything but I thought
‘what the heck, I’ll just put it back on’ because I
usually put one on just before I leave.
“Thank goodness I did!”
The winner plans to use some of his hefty cash prize to
help the family farm and his big brother, but also hopes
to buy a new car and a boat, and travel overseas.
“I definitely reckon there’ll be a ute involved, and I’m
pretty sure I can get myself more than just a tinnie,”
he joked.
The win is the fifth $1 million-plus Keno jackpot to
be won by Queenslanders since December last year,
which was Keno’s 20th anniversary in Queensland –
marking two decades since the game was first offered
in the state back in 1997.
Keno’s Queensland State Manager, David Dicker, says
the team are rapt another hotel has been involved in
making Keno’s second millionaire for 2018.
“We’re looking forward to celebrating this massive
jackpot with the Burdekin Hotel and QHA in March,”
Dicker said.
Burdekin Hotel manager Mark Strong
“had a hunch who the winner was” when
the venue’s Keno display lit up with a jackpot.
QHA REVIEW | 7