On Saturday 26th June, one very overwhlemed Canley Heights man won a $1.74 million Keno jackpot at the Mekong Panthers at Cabramatt, changing his life in just a few short minutes.

The 54-year-old delivery truck driver, who wishes to keep his identity private, was overjoyed after he recovered from the initial disbelief of his massive jackpot win.

“I couldn’t believe it, myself,” he said. “One of the staff came up to me and asked ‘how many numbers did you play? The 10-number jackpot has just gone off’.”

“I said ‘it must be somebody else - it couldn’t be me’.”

The father of three, who vowed to still turn up to work the day after his win, was accompanying his sister and niece to the club for an afternoon of fun together.

After working for more than 30 years running two shops in inner Sydney, the winner said he lost his last shop and house due to personal reasons.

He said he would now be able to pay back his son, who lent him money to refinance, as well as pay off his ex-wife’s house, help his daughter through university and buy a house for himself.

“I am living in an old house,” he said. “I have worked hard ever since arriving here in 1978 and now thanks to this Keno win, I will have my own house and be able to better support my family.”

The winner also plans to travel to the United States to visit his cousin, who he hasn’t seen since both were teenagers.

Mekong Panthers Duty Manager, Hung Dinh, congratulated the winner, saying he was thrilled the jackpot had been won by the guest of two club members and a long time Keno player.

Andrew Tran, the staff member who sold the winning ticket, said the winner was very excited about the win - after he finally believed it was true.

“This man came up to check two tickets from another club and then he bought two $20 Kwikpik tickets,” Andrew said.

“When the 10-number jackpot went off, I was curious - I recalled selling the tickets to him earlier,” he said.

 “He was sitting with his two friends near the counter, so I went over and asked him did he play 10-number games.

He couldn’t believe he had won so we went to check his tickets together. Tehy were all so excited when they found out it was him.”

The winning numbers were 2, 12, 14, 15, 16, 57, 66, 68, 69 and 78. He won on the 17th game of a 20 $1 game ticket.