JOANNA Wati had 30,000 reasons to laugh all the way to the bank yesterday after the purchase of a $1 scratchy ticket turned her dreams into reality.
Mrs Wati, who works for a tailor earning $120 a week, thanked God after she scratched the winning $30,000 ticket last week.
"This is big money you know," she said laughingly as she was presented with the cheque yesterday.
"Most of it will go towards my children's education, they come first and maybe I will try to extend my house."
She said it was routine for her to buy a scratch ticket every time she passed the Classic Stationery shop located just outside the market and was jumping for joy when she scratched the winning ticket.
"Living on $120 a week was hard for me and my four kids."
"We were struggling to make ends meet and when I told them I had won, they were all very happy."
The 42-year old from Beqa but now living in Raiwaqa, Suva said she had only told her mother of the win and was not in any rush to tell anybody else of her good fortune.
Mrs Wati's husband, a security provider in Kuwait is yet to hear of his wife's luck.
She said she would wait for him to call from the oil rich country before telling him.
Fiji Tattslotto resident executive director Graeme Brown said winning scratchy tickets usually turned up every four to five weeks and there were four more $30,000 tickets yet to be found.