G'day from the Lotto Australia Family!
Crikey, where do I even start? 🤔 Back in 2019, I was just a regular bloke from Alice Springs - Mark Thompson - working in the mines and playing the lottery like everyone else. But bloody hell, the experience was horrible! Dodgy websites, unclear odds, and customer service that made me want to throw my phone into the red dirt.
One night, after losing $50 on a sketchy platform that took forever to pay out (if they even did!), I turned to my missus Sarah and said, "There's gotta be a better way, love." That's when the idea hit me like a Waltzing Matilda - what if we created a lottery platform that actually gave a damn about its players?
🛠️ Building Something Special
Sarah, being the smart cookie she is (she's got a computer science degree from ANU), jumped on board immediately. We spent months researching, talking to players from Darwin to Hobart, and honestly... the stories we heard were heartbreaking. People getting ripped off, winners not getting paid, zero transparency.
So we mortgaged our little house in Alice Springs and dove in headfirst. Our first office was literally our garage - Sarah coding away while I handled the legal stuff and licensing. The smell of eucalyptus from our backyard mixed with instant coffee became our signature scent! 😄
🚀 Growing Across the Continent
Word spread faster than a bushfire in summer! Within six months, we had players from every state. Emma from Melbourne was our first big winner - $1.2M - and when she called us crying with joy, we knew we were doing something right.
Today, we've got a team of 47 beautiful souls spread across Australia. Our headquarters moved to Brisbane (sorry Alice Springs!), but our heart remains in the red centre. Every single person on our team plays our own lottery - we eat our own dog food, as they say!