Every week from a small soundproof booth in Brisbane, Australia, a man makes phone calls telling people the good news that will change their lives.
Matt Hart works for The Lott, Australia’s largest lottery operator. Every year he calls hundreds of people to tell them they’ve beaten the odds and become a millionaire.
The man enjoys calling people to tell them about the good news, but convincing winners that it’s not a scam call can be rather challenging.
“The very first call I ever made did not buy it and said if I called again, he would call the police and hung up on me,”
“People tell us they’re not lucky people and it couldn’t be them and think it’s a scam. Sometimes we have to tell them to check their ticket and come back to us,” said the Brisbane man.
There were 7 Division 1 winning entries in tonight’s #SaturdayLotto draw 3871.
Results: https://t.co/iwCZwoFjQE pic.twitter.com/AvqSptK8Vi— the Lott (@theLott) August 25, 2018
Mr Hart makes more than 700 phone calls every year. Nevertheless, the odds that he will actually call you are 1 in 11.3 million.
The biggest prize winning call he had to make was for $50 million. The winner didn’t know if he should laugh or cry when he finally picked up the call.
Mr Hart usually calls lucky winners immediately after a lottery draw at 8:30 pm or early the following day. He admitted that he still got butterflies in his stomach when he made the calls. He explained that the soundproof feature of the booth he worked at was indispensable because some of the reactions on the phone could be quite loud.
“Some people scream wildly, others are just stunned silence … there are some great screamers out there though.”
Mr Hart sees it as a privilege to be allowed into the life-changing moment of someone’s life. While there is a common misconception that people spend all the winnings in a year, according to the man, most winners tell him they will save up the money.
He has heard plenty of ideas from winners about what they will spend their windfall on. Most people said to Mr Hart that they would pay off their house, but he has also encountered some rather unusual responses.
“It’s funny, as some people say they’re going to get a haircut or never going to mow their lawn again or iron again.”
“One winner told me they were going to quit their job and become a Buddhist monk,” said Mr Hart.
