( CNN ) -- Concerned about her family 's finances , a university student in Australia cashed some long-forgotten lottery tickets this week -- hoping the money would help her parents . Have you ever won big after mislaying a lottery ticket ? Tell us -- click on Sound Off below . She discovered their worries are over . The university student won $ 10 million ( A $ 13 million ) -- and helped solve a lottery mystery that has made headlines in Western Australia for 10 months . `` People had been wondering for months , who is this mystery winner ? Do they know about this ticket ? '' said Jodi Eastman , spokeswoman for Lotterywest , the state lottery . `` We have a 12 month expiry on lottery tickets . And people thought it might end up expiring and go unclaimed . '' Have you ever won big on an old lottery ticket ? Sound Off below . It would have , too , had the student -- who is in her 30s and asked lottery officials to keep her anonymous -- not woken up earlier this week , suddenly remembering the bundle of lottery tickets collecting dust in a drawer . She did n't know that among them was a gift from her father , who had purchased a ticket to test the family 's luck when the Oz Lotto jackpot climbed to $ 39 ( A $ 50 million ) million last July . `` She said she thought , 'If I can win some money on these tickets , I can possibly help the family out , '' Eastman said . The first couple of tickets yielded small amounts -- $ 16 total . `` She was pretty excited , '' Eastman said . Then the woman had the clerk check the gift from her father . At first glance , she thought she 'd won $ 10,000 ( A $ 13,000 ) . No , the retail store clerk told her , it 's $ 10 million ( A $ 13 million ) . `` I checked the commas and decimal places and then I realized , '' the woman told Lotterywest . `` I always remember Mum telling me that if I won the Lotto , not to start jumping up and down in the shopping center , '' she added . Had she waited two more months , she would have missed the fortune . The woman told lottery officials she 's not planning a spending binge . `` The people close to me will be looked after and I might give some to research or a charity of some kind , '' she told Lotterywest . `` It 's nice to have this much to fulfill my dreams and the dreams of the people around me . '' The winning ticket cost $ 6.70 ( A $ 8.70 ) . The odds she beat : 1 in 45 million .
Student finds old lottery ticket left to languish in drawer , wins $ 10 ##K . Unclaimed prize made headlines in Western media , student solves mystery . Prize had been due to expire after 6 months , the winner claimed after 10 . Anonymous winner : ` ` It 's nice to have this much to fill my dreams ''