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Oasis issue urgent warning after scalpers list tickets for $42,000

<p>Oasis have been forced to issue a warning to music fans who are searching for tickets to their highly-anticipated reunion tour, after resale tickets have been listed for thousands of dollars. </p> <p>Tickets to the UK and Irelands reunion show went on sale on Saturday, with tickets to the 17 shows selling out in a matter of hours. </p> <p>Tickets were originally posted on Ticketmaster with prices ranging from $190 AUD to $500 AUD, before prices were bumped up by the ticket merchant as being "in demand", with the cheapest tickets then priced at $475 AUD. </p> <p>Since all shows were officially sold out, some tickets have since been posted on resale sites such as StubHub and Viagogo, with prices ranging from $1,100 AUD to a whopping $42,000 AUD. </p> <p>After all the tickets were sold, ticket scalpers shared their tickets on the resale websites to turn a profit, with music fans sharing photos of the outrageous prices on social media. </p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">The highest price I've seen so far is £22,045. It's ridiculous. I know no one is likely to pay that, but why are these companies allowing it? <a href="https://t.co/uMSt0TS6K9">pic.twitter.com/uMSt0TS6K9</a></p> <p>— Jordan (@grahamjordan_) <a href="https://twitter.com/grahamjordan_/status/1829647325901570230?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 30, 2024</a></p></blockquote> <p>"And it’s begun," one fan wrote alongside a screenshot of the resale websites.</p> <p>"Viagogo and StubHub all trying to rip off Oasis fans, with the highest priced ticket being on StubHub for £6,347 ($12,323 AUD). Hang your heads in shame."</p> <p>The music fan then added another photo of the $42,000 AUD ticket for sale, writing, "The highest price I've seen so far is £22,045. It's ridiculous. I know no one is likely to pay that, but why are these companies allowing it?"</p> <p>Oasis themselves then stepped in to warn fans about paying the extortionate fees for tickets, saying according to the terms and conditions, tickets could only be resold at face value via Ticketmaster and Twickets.</p> <p>"Tickets sold in breach of terms and conditions will be cancelled by the promoters," they wrote in a post to X.</p> <p>Oasis promoters had previously issued a similar warning, telling fans tickets sold through "unauthorised resale platforms" would be in breach of terms and conditions and "may be cancelled".</p> <p><em>Image credits: Instagram/Vuk Valcic/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock Editorial </em></p>

Money & Banking

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Woman divides the internet over not wanting to share Lotto winnings

<p dir="ltr">A young mother has divided the internet after sharing that she didn’t want to split her Lotto winnings with her boyfriend. </p> <p dir="ltr">The woman took to Facebook to share that she bought the ticket on a whim and won half her annual salary as a result.</p> <p dir="ltr">Taking to social media, she explained how the awkward conversation with her partner unfolded. </p> <p dir="ltr">“I started to tell my boyfriend I was gonna put it towards my kids' college and do some upgrades to my house. He said, ‘what about my half?’,” she wrote.</p> <p dir="ltr">She went on to explain how the couple have the same yearly salary and how her partner said he could really use the financial help, but she doesn't want to share. </p> <p dir="ltr">“If I had won $6million I'd have no problem giving him half because it would be very easy to live off $3million. But 1/4 of one year's salary won't help me much,” she added.</p> <p dir="ltr">She also revealed that the couple would sometimes “daydream" about winning a lottery jackpot and would split a ticket every now and then, promising to go halves in the winnings.</p> <p dir="ltr">However, the mum said this time was different because it was a spur-of-the-moment ticket purchase and he wasn't part of it.</p> <p dir="ltr">The woman’s post welcomed a range of differing comments, with some people not appearing sympathetic to the young mum. </p> <p dir="ltr">“Is half the pot worth more than your relationship? If it is, you shouldn't be in the relationship anyway, so call it off,” one person said.</p> <p dir="ltr">Another person added, “Can you for two seconds not see how this is very petty? He didn't contribute 'this time'. I'm sure when he buys a ticket he's not thinking 'oh this one is for just me and if we win on these ones then we will share’.”</p> <p dir="ltr">However, some people were quick to stand up for her and tell her she doesn’t owe her partner half her winnings. </p> <p dir="ltr">“She isn't selfish for keeping the money, they didn't have an agreement this time, and why should he be entitled to it. She is better off spending it on her home and her children's future,” one woman said.</p> <p dir="ltr">Another added, “If he won $20 would he give you $10? If he won $1,000 would he give you $500? If the answer is yes, then throw the guy a bone, but if you don't live together, there's no ring on your finger, and the answer is no? Keep it.”</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image credits: Shutterstock </em></p> <p> </p>

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"Tax the boomers": Outrage over elderly couple's complaint after $1m Lotto win

<p>A "greedy" elderly couple have been rinsed online after complaining about losing their age pension payments after they won the Lotto. </p> <p>The couple, aged 73 and 67, wrote into <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/money/super-and-retirement/we-won-the-lottery-but-lost-our-pension-could-we-have-prevented-this-20240702-p5jqga.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Sydney Morning Herald</em></a>'s financial advice column with Noel Whittaker to ask how they could've prevented losing the government funds and still kept hold of their million-dollar winnings. </p> <p>The couple's submission read, "We are a couple... both retired and receiving the full aged pension. We recently won $1,000,000 in the lottery and have placed that money in a basic interest-bearing savings account with our bank."</p> <p>"We intend to use that money to buy a new house and sell our existing one but may just renovate. The windfall has stopped our pension completely until we spend the money, which is all good and well. But could we have prevented the pension loss in any way?"</p> <p>Whittaker responded that the couple should consider themselves extremely fortunate and enjoy the money, saying they "could have a far better lifestyle living off capital instead of relying on welfare". </p> <p>He also urged the couple not "spend to get a pension". </p> <p>The boomers' questions quickly drew attention online, with many flocking to Facebook comments to slam the couple for their "greed". </p> <p>One person wrote, "If you won the lotto, why would you want the pension?", while another added, "Ah yes, the call of the boomers everywhere, 'I have millions but where's my pension money?'"</p> <p>Others said the Lotto winners should consider themselves lucky they are now able to provide for themselves, with one person writing, "Pension is a support system to allow you to survive without/reduced work in retirement. If you are a multimillionaire then you don't need it."</p> <p>Another person echoed the sentiment, saying, "Wow, what entitlement. The pension is a safety net, if you don’t qualify for it think yourself lucky."</p> <p>Other social media users simply shared their outrage towards the boomer generation, as one frustrated person wrote, "Won a million and whinging they can't scam the taxpayers, what self-centered arrogance", while another added, "Tax the boomers! No more handouts."</p> <p><em>Image credits: Shutterstock</em></p> <div class="x6s0dn4 x3nfvp2" style="font-family: inherit; align-items: center; display: inline-flex; min-width: 604px;"> <ul class="html-ul xe8uvvx xdj266r x4uap5 x18d9i69 xkhd6sd x1n0m28w x78zum5 x1wfe3co xat24cr xsgj6o6 x1o1nzlu xyqdw3p" style="list-style: none; margin: 0px -8px 0px 4px; padding: 3px 0px 0px; display: flex; min-height: 15px; line-height: 12px; caret-color: #1c1e21; color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, '.SFNSText-Regular', sans-serif; font-size: 12.000001px;" aria-hidden="false"> <li class="html-li xe8uvvx xdj266r xat24cr xexx8yu x4uap5 x18d9i69 xkhd6sd x1rg5ohu x1emribx x1i64zmx" style="list-style: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 8px;"> </li> </ul> </div>

Retirement Income

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$2 billion lotto win tears family apart

<p>A man who won one of the biggest lottery jackpots in American history has been accused of cutting his family out of their promised share after winning $2 billion (AUD) in the Mega Millions jackpot. </p> <p>The unidentified man has been in a legal battle with his daughter’s mum since November, after he accused her of violating a nondisclosure agreement by telling the rest of the family about his fortune before their daughter's 18th birthday in 2032, according to the Independent. </p> <p>He bought the winning ticket in Lebanon, Maine on January 13 2023. </p> <p>The mum – identified by a pseudonym, Sara Smith – claimed that he was the one who told his family about his lotto winnings, not her. </p> <p>The man's father supported Smith's claim and said that his son told him about the win and all the things he planned to do with his new-found fortune, which he collected through an LLC in a lump sum of over $750 million. </p> <p>“February or March of 2023, my son came to my house … and informed me and my wife that he won a large amount of money in the Maine State Lottery,” his father wrote in new court documents. </p> <p>“I understand that my son has stated that he told me nothing about his money ‘other than the simple fact that I had won’,” the dad wrote. “That is not true.”</p> <p>He also claimed that he didn't ask his son for any money, but the lotto-winner allegedly made a bunch of promises, including building his dad a garage to fix up old cars, buying his childhood home, setting up a million-dollar trust fund and funding future medical expenses for his dad and stepmum.</p> <p>The lotto-winner also allegedly demanded his father to not talk to Smith. </p> <p>"I told him … ‘You are not the son I knew’,” his dad wrote in the filing.</p> <p>“He got angry, calling me a ‘dictator’ and an ‘a**ehole’. I have not heard from my son since, and he has not done any of [the] things he promised.”</p> <p>The half-billionaire refuted his dad and Smith's claims. </p> <p>“I made the mistake of telling my father that I had won the lottery without having him sign a confidentiality agreement,” he wrote. </p> <p>“Our relationship deteriorated quickly thereafter,” he continued.</p> <p>“I did not tell him what I was doing with my money, how I was going to benefit my daughter, or any facts other than the simple fact that I had won.” </p> <p>He also accused his ex-partner of trying to reveal his identity to the world and that she wrongly accused him of trying to kidnap their daughter after he refused to pay for her and her new boyfriend's vacation. </p> <p><em>Image: Shutterstock</em></p> <p> </p>

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"Pretty brutal": Peter Garrett slams Taylor Swift for price gouging tickets

<p>Peter Garrett has taken aim at Taylor Swift, calling out her extrationate ticket prices for a place at the Eras Tour. </p> <p>The Midnight Oil frontman  joined <em>107.1 SAFM’s Bec & Soda</em> radio show on Friday when he was informed that he was co-host Mark “Soda” Soderstrom’s favourite artist, or in other words, “his Taylor Swift.”</p> <p>Garrett didn't take too kindly to the comparison, and launched into a rant about the price of Swift's concert tickets. </p> <p>“I’m not price gouging like Taylor, to be blunt,” he began.</p> <p>The radio hosts reminisced about attending a Midnight Oil concert in 1985 when tickets were just $15.90, compared to Swifts forking out hundreds of dollars for the highly anticipated Eras Tour. </p> <p>Tickets for Swift’s Australian tour ranged from $79.90 for G-reserve tickets to $379.90 for A-reserve ticket, while also offering fans multiple VIP packages, reaching an eye-watering $1249.90 for a single ticket. </p> <p>Some diehard fans were quick to complain about the lack of added value in the packages, which included premium seats with add-ons such as a tote bags, collectable pins, stickers and postcards.</p> <p>Garrett continued, “I wouldn’t begrudge anyone’s success, that’s the first thing to say."</p> <p>"She’s obviously touching a chord with masses of people, particularly people of a certain age group who have experienced growing up at a certain time, and what she’s singing and talking about is really ringing true with them.” </p> <p>However, he also said that “the dollar end of it having looked at it from a distance, having been in this business forever, is pretty brutal.”</p> <p>Garrett continued to share his disapproval of Swift's Australian domination, complaining about how five of her albums dominated the ARIA charts, booting Aussie artists off the ladder. </p> <p>“She is so pervasive, she has become such a phenomenon, that she is displacing artists left right and centre. In our ARIA top 100 chart – that’s the Australian record industry chart – I think at one point in the last week or two, we only had three Australian artists in that top 100,” Garrett said. </p> <p>“Not good enough! And that’s not me crying about it, I’ve had an incredible run. But I think about the younger artists coming through and it’s extremely hard for them now.”</p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images </em></p>

Money & Banking

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Spin cycle disaster: man puts winning Lotto ticket through the wash

<p>In a harrowing tale that's sure to wring out a chuckle or two, a man in his late 20s from <span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;">Belmont, Western Australia, </span><span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;">narrowly escaped laundering his way out of a $2.8 million windfall – after nearly sacrificing his winning lottery ticket to the treacherous depths of his washing machine.</span></p> <p>It all started innocently enough at the Here's Luck Lottery Centre in Belmont Forum, where our hero – who very sensibly prefers to remain incognito – purchased what would turn out to be a life-changing ticket for the Saturday Lotto. Little did he know, his unassuming trousers would soon become the epicentre of a near-catastrophe.</p> <p>In a classic case of absentmindedness, our hero forgot to take his ticket out of his pants pocket before succumbing to the siren song of laundry day.</p> <p>"I forgot to take the ticket out of my trousers and put it in the washing machine," confessed the forgetful winner. "After five minutes I realised and stopped the washing machine to grab the ticket, fortunately, it was safe."</p> <p>Indeed, it was a race against the spin cycle as the man scrambled to rescue his potential fortune from a soapy demise. "I couldn’t think, I couldn’t sleep, I am still processing the win," he admitted with palpable relief.</p> <p>But our protagonist emerged victorious from this sudsy saga, managing to salvage his ticket just in the nick of time. With a sigh of relief, he made his way to Lotterywest HQ to claim his well-deserved prize.</p> <p>Lotterywest spokesman James Mooney chimed in, highlighting the importance of registering tickets to avoid potential mishaps of this magnitude. "For this player, it all came out of the wash okay, but it’s a reminder for players to register their ticket to prevent what could be a multimillion-dollar mistake," he wisely advised.</p> <p><em>Image: Getty</em></p>

Money & Banking

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$280 million lotto winner cuts ties with "greedy" family

<p>Scotland resident Gillian Bayford went from rags to riches in an instant when she won the equivalent of a $278.36 million jackpot in August 2012. </p> <p>Thinking luck was finally on her side, Bayford didn't expect the amount of drama that came with the life-changing prize. </p> <p>It all began just 15 months after her lucky win with then-husband Adrian, who she split with allegedly due to the stress of managing the jackpot. </p> <p>Not long after, she spent $1,324,304 to pay off her family's debt, which included money that her late father Ian McCulloch and her brother Colin owed over a series of failed business ventures according to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/woman-won-187m-lottery-severed-ties-greedy-family-2023-12" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Business Insider</em></a>. </p> <p>“My dad and brother built up one company after another and then closed them down,” Bayford said. </p> <p>“I’ve bailed them out of every debt.”</p> <p>She continued to keep her family financially afloat spending a total of $37.31 million on them, and even bought her parents - who were broke and living in a caravan at the time - a $522,388 penthouse apartment in eastern Scotland. </p> <p>But, according to the <em>Mirror</em>, that wasn't enough and her father insisted that she should give her brother around $1.5 million, for a new play-centre business. </p> <p>She obliged, and instead of thanking her, Colin now drives Audis with private plates, owns a $546,000 house and reportedly stopped talking to his sister. He even got married to his girlfriend without inviting Bayford to the wedding. </p> <p>“They have lost touch with where they’ve come from,” Bayford told <em>The Sun</em>.</p> <p>“They’re rubbing people’s noses in it by flashing their cash, which I think is downright nasty.”</p> <p>At one point her father even tried to take control of her winnings and even take a piece of her business. </p> <p>“It’s upsetting and raw,” she told the publication. </p> <p>“The money was supposed to make everybody happy. But it’s made them demanding and greedy.” </p> <p>She added, "they brought our name into disrespect in the village, and we had people threatening to torch the family house.”</p> <p>Bayford said that despite it all she takes pride in herself "because I know I’ve taken them out of a situation.”</p> <p>The lotto winner officially cut ties with her family in 2016 after they called her an embarrassment, while her mum Brenda McCulloch claims she’s heartbroken over the lack of contact with her daughter and grandchildren.</p> <p>“Gillian says that we didn’t try and get in touch with them, but if I’d tried she wouldn’t have let me,”  she said. </p> <p>Her mum also claimed that while her daughter was “generous,” the actual amount she gave her family was much lower. </p> <p>“Every word that comes out of their mouths is a lie. I wish them a happy life, but there will be no reconciliation now," Bayford refuted. </p> <p><em>Image: Getty</em></p> <p> </p>

Money & Banking

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Free tickets up for grabs to Barry Humphries' state memorial

<p>Australians will have the chance to pay their respects to the late Barry Humphries, with limited free tickets to his state memorial available to the public. </p> <p>Humphries died on April 22nd this year at the age of 89, and will be remembered for his legendary comedic characters such as Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson.</p> <p>His state memorial will be held at the Sydney Opera House at 11am on Friday December 15th, for those who wish to pay their respects to the entertainment giant. </p> <p>"The State Memorial will bring together dignitaries, family, friends and fans of Mr Humphries from across Australia and around the world to celebrate his extraordinary career and achievements," the NSW government said online.</p> <div> <p>Limited free tickets have also been made available to the public through the <a title="Sydney Opera House website" href="https://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/state-memorial-barry-humphries-ac-cbe" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sydney Opera House website,</a> with fans able to snag a ticket from 2pm AEDT on Friday November 17th.</p> <p>Each person hoping to get a ticket will be allowed two tickets per customer to give everyone a chance to farewell one of Australia's best-loved entertainers. </p> <p>For those who miss out on a ticket, the memorial will be streamed online and broadcast on ABC, providing an opportunity for audiences everywhere to share in the celebration of Mr Humphries' life.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p> </div>

Caring

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Driver's shock after copping $2.2 million speeding ticket

<p>In a shocking turn of events, a man in the US state of Georgia has found himself facing a $2.2 million ($US1.4m) traffic ticket after getting caught speeding on a freeway.</p> <p>Yes, you read that right - $2.2 million! It sounds like a punchline from a comedy show, but it happened in real life.</p> <p>Connor Cato was cruising through the city of Savannah on September 2, probably enjoying the wind in his hair, when the Georgia State Patrol nabbed him going a zippy 145km/h (90miles/h) in an 88km/h (55mile/h) zone. Now, we've all been there, right? In a rush, late for a meeting, or maybe just trying to win a real-life game of Mario Kart. But poor Mr Cato got WAY more than he bargained for.</p> <p>When the officer handed him a ticket, he must have been bracing himself for a hefty fine. But what he got was more jaw-dropping than a surprise birthday party from a circus troupe. The ticket had a price tag of $2.2 million! </p> <p>In disbelief, Cato decided to call the court, assuming it was a typo. But, to his amazement, the court clerk insisted that the amount was correct. She even had the audacity to tell him, "You either pay the amount on the ticket or you come to court on December 21 at 1:30pm."</p> <p>Thankfully, Cato's dire financial situation turned out to be a mere illusion. The $2.2 million was just what's known as a "placeholder" generated by e-citation software used in Savannah. This software, used by the local Recorder's Court, goes all <em>Mission Impossible</em> on super speeders – those who exceed the speed limit by more than 56km/h (35miles/h). It seems that the software programmers have a taste for drama, as they used the largest number possible to create this fine that sounds more like a ransom demand from a Bond villain.</p> <p>In reality, a judge will set the real fine, which cannot exceed $2,000 ($US1,000), plus state-mandated costs, at Cato's mandatory court appearance. So, our dear speed demon can breathe a sigh of relief; he won't be selling his house, car, and perhaps an organ or two to pay off that outrageous ticket.</p> <p>The city of Savannah has been using this placeholder system since 2017 and has promised to work on adjusting the language to avoid any further confusion. In the end, this story is a reminder that sometimes technology can have a wicked sense of humour. </p> <p><em>Images: Shutterstock / WSAV TV</em></p>

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"She's my heartbeat": Man's touching move after mum buys him $730k winning lottery ticket

<p>A man from South Australia has vowed to shower his mother in gifts after she bought him a winning lottery ticket for his birthday. </p> <p>The man held one of the seven winning division one tickets, seeing him rake in a hefty prize of $738,668.19. </p> <p>The winning ticket was purchased by the man's mother, at the George Avenue Deli in Whyalla Norrie, north of Adelaide, with the family in disbelief at the extraordinary win. </p> <p>"My mum bought me this ticket for my birthday last week,” the man said.</p> <p>“I rang her yesterday after calling The Lott and she didn’t believe me at all.”</p> <p>The man said that while he is thrilled with the win, it still doesn't seem real. </p> <p>“Honestly, I’ve been holding off getting excited until the money is in my account,” he said. </p> <p>The grateful winner has promised to repay his mother for all she’s done for him by spoiling her “rotten” with his winnings. </p> <p>“She’s my heartbeat, she’s everything to me,” he said.</p> <p>“I wouldn’t have had a great birthday if it wasn’t for her, so I look forward to giving back to her.”</p> <p>The owner of George Avenue Deli, Lorna-Jane Anderson, said learning of the winning entry had been “wonderful news”.</p> <p>“There’s no doubt the local community will be happy to hear another Whyalla Norrie customer has won big with a ticket purchased at our outlet,” she said.</p> <p>“We’ve sold many major lottery prizes in the past two years and in fact, almost a year ago we sold a top prize-winning Instant Scratch-Its ticket worth $100,000."</p> <p>“We’re glad to hear the mystery winner has come forward to claim their prize and we wish him all the best with the win.”</p> <p><em>Image credits: The Lott</em></p>

Money & Banking

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"Ignore it": The one parking ticket Aussies can chuck in the bin

<p>Western Australian driver, <span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;">Connor Wright,</span><span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;"> has gone viral after sharing his advice on how to handle penalty notices issued by private parking companies.</span></p> <p>The TikTok, which now has over 1.5 million views, started off with Wright recalling the moment he walked back to his car to find a ticket issued by Parking Enforcement Services (PES), a division of Wilson Parking. </p> <p>Wright then proceeds to rip up the ticket and told others to "make sure to read the fine print on these bad boys".</p> <p>"If you read at the back, it says important information: 'This is not a parking fine'," he said. </p> <p>"Useless, throw it in the bin, don't pay that sh*t."</p> <p>Many have commented how they "wish they knew this earlier". </p> <p>The ticket itself is a 'breach notice' which starts at a $65 penalty from Wilson and is only issued when a person drives into private car park, for example in a shopping centre, and break the terms and conditions issued by the private entity. </p> <p>"What they try and do is recover the debt for the loss incurred, effectively like a breach of contract, but they're not fines — only a statutory body has the power to issue a fine." Sydney Criminal Lawyers James Clements told <em>Yahoo News Australia</em>. </p> <p>Clements also called the penalty a "bullying tactic" to "effectively try scaring people into paying them," but it is difficult to enforce it due to government "crackdowns." </p> <p>However parking fines from bodies like councils, some universities and hospitals should be paid.</p> <p>Clements advises that when you receive the breach notice you should "ignore it" or "write back and say, 'I dispute this and do not intend to pay'."</p> <p>"What you don't want to do is write to them and say that you disclose you were the driver."</p> <p>Drivers are also encouraged to read signs and the terms and conditions when entering a private car park. </p> <p><em>Images: TikTok</em></p>

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"Unsung heroes" win millions in Lotto draw

<p>A group of 50 hospital workers have had their lives changed for the better after winning a huge stake in Saturday's $20 million Lotto draw. </p> <p>The syndicate of healthcare professionals at Fiona Stanley Hospital in Perth had one of five division one-winning tickets, worth a staggering $4 million.</p> <p>The prize will be split between 50 hospital employees, with each of the facility’s “truly unsung heroes” set to receive $80,000 each.</p> <p>The syndicate included staff from all areas of the hospital, including nurses, orderlies, cleaners and supply staff. </p> <p>“I immediately ran down the corridor to my boss’s office,” the ticket holder said.</p> <p>“Then I messaged the group chat to let everyone know, and called those who aren’t on social media to share the good news."</p> <p>“This will be life-changing for a lot of people, and some really touching stories have come out of this experience.”</p> <p>The same group of dedicate Lotto ticket buyers have been trying their luck at a big win for more than a year. </p> <p>“I’ve had not much good luck. I lost my husband seven months ago,” clinical nurse specialist Genevieve Stacey said.</p> <p>“This is not just going to change our lives but the lives of our families as well, so it’s nice to have something good happen.”</p> <p>Some among the group will spend their winnings on family holidays and releasing mortgage pressure, while one staff member also plans to start her long-awaited IVF treatment.</p> <p>Fiona Stanley Fremantle Hospitals Group executive director Neil Doverty said he could not think of a group of people more deserving of the life-changing win. </p> <p>“These staff are often behind the scenes but play a critical role in the day-to-day running of our hospital and caring for our patients,” Doverty said.</p> <p>“They are truly unsung heroes and are incredibly deserving of this win.”</p> <p><em>Image credits: 7News</em></p>

Money & Banking

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Beyond Barbie and Oppenheimer, how do cinemas make money? And do we pay too much for movie tickets?

<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/peter-martin-682709">Peter Martin</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/crawford-school-of-public-policy-australian-national-university-3292">Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University</a></em></p> <p>I’ve got two questions about blockbuster movies like Barbie and Oppenheimer.</p> <ol> <li> <p>Why aren’t the cinemas charging more for them, given they’re so popular?</p> </li> <li> <p>Why are they the same price, given Oppenheimer is an hour longer?</p> </li> </ol> <p>The opening weekend <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/culture/movies/how-australian-cinemas-and-audiences-handled-the-barbenheimer-juggernaut-20230724-p5dqso.html">for both films</a> saw an avalanche of Australians returning to the cinema. Extra staff had to be put on (although probably not enough) to manage queues, turn away pink-clad fans who couldn’t get in, and clean up mountains of popcorn trampled underfoot.</p> <p>An obvious solution to such a rush of demand is to push up prices. Airlines do it when they are getting low on seats. When more people want to get a ride share, Uber makes them pay with “<a href="https://www.uber.com/au/en/drive/driver-app/how-surge-works/">surge pricing</a>”.</p> <p>Even books are sold at different prices, depending on the demand, their length, their quality and how long they’ve been on the shelves.</p> <p>But not movie tickets, which are nearly always the same price, no matter the movie. Why? And how much has the cost of a trip to the movies risen over the past 20 years?</p> <h2>Why not charge more for blockbusters?</h2> <p>In suburban Melbourne, Hoyts is charging $24.50 for the two-hour Barbie – the same as it is charging for the three-hour Oppenheimer, even though it could fit in far fewer showings of Oppenheimer in a day. It’s also the same price as it is charging for much less popular movies, such as Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.</p> <p>It’s also how things are in the United States, where James Surowiecki, author of <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/175380/the-wisdom-of-crowds-by-james-surowiecki/">The Wisdom of Crowds</a> blames convention and says "it costs you as much to see a total dog that’s limping its way through its last week of release as it does to see a hugely popular film on opening night."</p> <p>Australian economists Nicolas de Roos of The University of Sydney and Jordi McKenzie of Macquarie University quote Surowiecki in their <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0167718714000174">2014 study</a> of whether cinema operators could make more by cutting the price of older and less popular films and raising the price of blockbusters.</p> <p>By examining what happened to demand on <a href="https://www.eventcinemas.com.au/Promotions/HalfPriceTuesdays#cinemas=59">cheap Tuesdays</a>, and developing a model taking into account advertising, reviews and the weather, they discovered Australian cinemas could make a lot more by <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0167718714000174">varying their prices</a> by the movie shown. We turn out to be highly price sensitive. So why don’t cinemas do that?</p> <h2>‘There’s a queue, it must be good’</h2> <p>It’s the sort of thing that puzzled <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/1992/becker/biographical/">Gary Becker</a>, an economic detective of sorts who won the Nobel Prize for Economics in the early 1990s. A few years earlier, he turned his attention to <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2937660">restaurants</a> and why one particular seafood restaurant in Palo Alto, California, had long queues every night but didn’t raise its prices.</p> <p>Across the road was a restaurant that charged slightly more, sold food that was about as good, and was mostly empty.</p> <p>His conclusion, which he used a lot of maths to illustrate, was there are some goods for which a consumer’s demand depends on the demand of other consumers.</p> <p>Queues for restaurants (or in 2023, long queues and sold out sessions, as crowds were turned away from Barbie) are all signals other consumers want to get in.</p> <p>This would make queues especially valuable to the providers of such goods, even if the queues meant they didn’t get as much as they could from the customers who got in. The “buzz” such queues create produces a supply of future customers persuaded that what was on offer must be worth trying.</p> <p>Importantly, Becker’s maths showed that getting things right was fragile. It was much easier for a restaurant to go from being “in” to “out” than the other way around. Once a queue had created a buzz, it was wise not to mess with it.</p> <h2>Cashing in from the snack bar</h2> <p>There are other reasons for cinemas to charge a standard ticket price, rather than vary it movie by movie.</p> <p>One is that it is hard to tell ahead of time which movies are going to soar and which are going to bomb, even if you spend a fortune on advertising as the <a href="https://variety.com/2023/film/box-office/barbie-marketing-campaign-explained-warner-bros-1235677922/">makers of Barbie did</a>. In the words of an insider, “<a href="https://variety.com/2018/film/opinion/william-goldman-dies-appreciation-1203030781/">nobody knows anything</a>.”</p> <p>Another is the way cinemas make their money. They have to pay the distributor a share of what they get from ticket sales (typically <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0167718714000174">35-40%</a>). But they don’t have to pay a share of what they make from high-margin snacks.</p> <p>This means it can make sense for some cinemas to charge less than what the market will bear – because they’ll sell more snacks – even if it means less money for the distributor.</p> <h2>Rising prices, despite some falling costs</h2> <p>But cinemas still charge a lot. From 2002 to 2022, Australian cinemas jacked up their average (not their highest) prices <a href="https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/fact-finders/cinema/industry-trends/box-office/ticket-prices">from $9.13 to $16.26</a> – an increase of 78%.</p> <p>In the same 20 year period, overall prices in Australia, as measured by the <a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-in-the-cpi-and-what-does-it-actually-measure-165162">consumer price index</a>, climbed 65% – less than the rise in movie ticket prices.</p> <hr /> <p><iframe id="E2kxi" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" style="border: none;" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/E2kxi/5/" width="100%" height="400px" frameborder="0"></iframe></p> <hr /> <p>A 2015 study found Australian cinemas charge more <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/306227560_Counting_the_cost_the_impact_of_cinema_ticket_prices_in_Australia">than cinemas in the US</a>.</p> <p>Yet some of the cinemas’ costs have gone down. They used to have to employ projectionists to lace up and change reels of film. Digital delivery means much less handling.</p> <p>A now-dated <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/about-us/publications/developments-in-the-cinema-distribution-exhibition-industry">1990s report</a> to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission found the two majors, Hoyts and Greater Union/Village, charged near identical prices except where they were faced with competition from a nearby independent, in which case they discounted.</p> <p>Whether “<a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/system/files/The%20Cinema%20Industry.pdf">by design or circumstance</a>”, the two cinema chains rarely competed with each other, clustering their multiplexes in different geographical locations.</p> <h2>Longer films no longer displace shorter films</h2> <p>I think it might be the multiplex that answers my second question: why cinemas don’t charge more for movies that are longer (and movies are <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/culture/movies/bigger-than-ben-hur-why-movies-are-getting-longer-and-longer-20220322-p5a6ty.html">getting longer</a>).</p> <p>In the days of single screens, a cinema that showed a long movie might only fit in (say) four showings a day instead of six. So it would lose out unless it charged more.</p> <p>But these days, multiplexes show many, many films on many screens, some of them simultaneously, meaning long films needn’t displace short films.</p> <p>Although we have <a href="https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/fact-finders/cinema/industry-trends/screens-and-theatres">fewer cinema seats</a> than we had a decade ago (and at least until the advent of Barbie, we’ve been <a href="https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/fact-finders/cinema/industry-trends/screens-and-theatres">going less often</a>) we now have <a href="https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/fact-finders/cinema/industry-trends/screens-and-theatres">far more screens</a>.</p> <p>Long movies no longer stop the multiplexes from playing standard ones. And because cinemas like to keep things simple, you pay the same price, no matter which movie you chose. <!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211121/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/peter-martin-682709">Peter Martin</a>, Visiting Fellow, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/crawford-school-of-public-policy-australian-national-university-3292">Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University</a></em></p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/beyond-barbie-and-oppenheimer-how-do-cinemas-make-money-and-do-we-pay-too-much-for-movie-tickets-211121">original article</a>.</em></p>

Movies

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Free tickets to The Miracle Club for Over60 readers!

<p>Join us for a special advance preview of <em>The Miracle Club</em>!</p> <p>Starring Academy Award winners Maggie Smith and Kathy Bates, Academy Award nominee Laura Linney, and rising talent Agnes O'Casey, <em>The Miracle Club </em>is a heartwarming, hilarious film that celebrates the power of friendship, love and laughter.</p> <p>"The stories of these women reminds us that we are only as strong as the friends and family who stand by us,” says Jarod Neece, Senior Programmer at the Tribeca Film Festival.</p> <p> <iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Gp3ZFdklPCk" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p> <p>The film is set in Ballyfermot, Ireland, 1960. A hard-knocks community in outer Dublin that marches to its own beat, rooted in traditions of loyalty, faith and togetherness.</p> <p>There's just one tantalising dream for the women of Ballyfermot to taste freedom and escape the gauntlet of domestic life: to win a pilgrimage to the sacred French town of Lourdes.</p> <p>And with a little benevolent interference from their cheeky and rebellious priest, close friends Lily, Eileen, Dolly and Sheila are the 'lucky' few to win this ticket of a lifetime at their riotous local raffle night.</p> <p>As a special offer to Over60 Readers, <a href="https://www.weticketit.com/showfilmfirstau/booking/Event/detail/JRD10963" target="_blank" rel="noopener">simply click the link to RSVP</a> and download your free double pass to the film. But hurry – seats are limited, so it really is first in, best dressed. <em>Enjoy!</em></p> <p><a href="https://www.weticketit.com/showfilmfirstau/booking/Event/detail/JRD10963" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em><img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2023/06/MiracleClub_HERO.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /></em></a></p> <p> </p>

Movies

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How Aussie maths whiz won the lotto 14 times

<p>Winning the lotto is more than likely a once-in-a-lifetime chance, but Aussie man Stefan Mandel defied the odds when he won the golden ticket 14 times using basic maths.</p> <p>The Romanian-Australian mathematician, joined by a small team of investors, discovered a remarkably easy way to hack the system in the 1980s and 1990s.</p> <p>Mandel’s first two wins were secured in his home country of Romania, where he was saving up to escape the then-Soviet Union before he won another dozen times in Australia.</p> <p>Surprisingly, Mandel’s system was not only straightforward but relied on very little of his mathematical training.</p> <p>The odds of winning the jackpot in the Australian Powerball are about one in 76,767,600, according to lotto land. If you want to double your chances with two tickets, the odds are still a mere 2 in 76,767,600.</p> <p>Mandel observed that in certain lotteries, the jackpot prize was much higher than the cost of purchasing every possible combination of numbers. Given he buys every ticket, he was almost guaranteed a return on his investment – so long as the winnings were split between several golden ticket holders.</p> <p>So, Mandel did just that.</p> <p>While it’s not completely against the rules, snatching up every ticket doesn’t quite resonate with the spirit of the game, and his winnings were astronomical.</p> <p>Mandel, now 89, convinced a group of investors to buy into the scheme over several years.</p> <p>He created algorithms that were able to generate and print the millions of different ticket groups required, which some lotteries allowed people to do at the time.</p> <p>With his pile of tickets printed and ready to go, Mandel and his team waited for a hefty jackpot, where they would purchase those tickets in shops.</p> <p>Mandel secured 12 wins on smaller lotteries Down Under before he sought out jackpots in the US with a sum far larger than anything he had won so far.</p> <p>While he won millions of dollars with his scheme, aiming for massive lotteries in the US proved to be his downfall.</p> <p>Mandel specifically had his sights set on the Virginia lottery, which was new at the time and only used numbers 1-44 in its draws. That meant there were 7,059,052 possible combinations, much less than the 25 million or higher that his team was used to.</p> <p>When the jackpot was high enough, around US$15.5 million, Mandel ordered thousands of investors to buy out the tickets in bulk.</p> <p>To Mandel’s dismay, some investors pulled out. After two days of purchases, the group secured about 6.4 million of the possible 7 million combinations needed to guarantee them the jackpot. Fortunately, the odds remained in his favour as he won the Virginia Lottery too.</p> <p>The FBI and CIA launched an investigation into Mandel, but no wrongdoing was found. Virginia Lottery had no choice but to pay up.</p> <p>Mandel won millions of dollars in the Virginia Lottery, including bringing home most of the smaller prizes.</p> <p>He later disbanded his team and retired to a beach house in Vanuatu, where he still lives.</p> <p>While Mandel’s scheme was legal at the time, it resulted in new rules for the lottery. Many countries, including the US and Australia, have since passed laws that stopped punters from buying lottery tickets in bulk or printing them at home, in turn rendering his methods impossible.</p> <p><em>Image credit: Twitter / Youtube</em></p>

Money & Banking

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Parents leave baby at airport counter after refusing to buy extra ticket

<p>A couple were checking in for a flight from Ben Gurion International Airport to Brussels, Belgium on Tuesday when they made the decision to leave their baby behind. </p> <p>Upon their arrival at the airport check-in desk in Tel Aviv, Israel, it was revealed that the baby did not have a ticket. Rather than address the situation and ensure their child’s safe travel, the pair opted to proceed to security without their stroller and its young occupant. </p> <p>The airline they were flying with, Ryanair, state on their website that "infants can be included in a flight reservation during the online booking process." </p> <p>Following their process for booking with an infant, a message will pop-up to let travellers know there is a €25 charge (approximately $39) for each one-way flight the baby participates in from an adult’s lap. If the adults want the baby to travel in a seat of its own with the proper equipment, a seat must be paid for. </p> <p>The parents, apparently, had not made such arrangements for their baby. The matter was referred to officials, as confirmed by a Ryanair spokeswoman.</p> <p>"These passengers travelling from Tel Aviv to Brussels presented at check-in without a booking for their infant,” she told <em>CNN</em>, “they then proceeded to security leaving the infant behind at check-in.</p> <p>"The check-in agent at Ben Gurion Airport contacted Airport Security, who retrieved these passengers, and this is now a matter for local police."</p> <p>Reports of the situation were confirmed by the Israeli Airport Authority, who provided a statement to <em>CNN </em>and offered some more information into what went on. </p> <p>"A couple and an infant with Belgian passports arrived for a flight at Terminal 1 without a ticket for the baby,” it read. </p> <p>“The couple also arrived late for the flight, once the check-in for the flight was closed. The couple left the infant seat with the baby and ran toward the security checks at Terminal 1 in an attempt to reach the boarding gate for the flight."</p> <p>A video allegedly from the airport at the time, staff can be heard expressing their sadness for the child. Another woman exclaims, “she left him there, I swear!”</p> <p>Ryanair staff also voiced their shock over the incident, telling <em>N12</em>, “we’re never seen anything like it.” </p> <p>Despite reports that the parents were detained, an Israel Police spokesman told <em>CNN </em>that the matter appeared to have been resolved by the time law enforcement arrived on the scene, stating that "the baby was with the parents and there's no further investigation."</p> <p><em>Images: Getty </em></p>

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Disability pensioner calls himself the "unluckiest" lotto winner

<p>When a disability pensioner struck gold playing the lotto, he thought his luck was starting to turn, until a harsh ruling from Centrelink put a swift end to his celebrations. </p> <p>Craig Hill had never won anything playing the lotto, until his numbers finally came up last month. </p> <p>While it wasn't "the big prize", Hill claimed the second division win in The Lott's "Set for Life" draw.</p> <p>"The main prize is $20,000 a month for 20 years. But this was second division, which is $5000 a month, for 12 months," Hill said.</p> <p>It was a tidy sum of $60,000 to help pay off the mortgage.</p> <p>"It's probably the dream of every Australian to win," Hill told <em>A Current Affair</em>.</p> <p>"I'm very disappointed. I mean, you only ever win the lottery once. It's not a big prize."</p> <p>After he was notified of his winnings, he thought he would do the right thing and tell Centrelink of the money he was soon coming in to. </p> <p>"Initially, they said 'it's a lottery win, so therefore it doesn't affect your pension'," he recalled.</p> <p>"I rang back later and (they) said, 'because you're a professional gambler now, you're getting paid monthly, it does affect your pension'."</p> <p>If The Lott had paid Hill his winnings as one lump sum, it wouldn't have affected his fortnightly pension payments.</p> <p> </p> <p>But because his winnings are being paid over 12 months, Centrelink considers it an income from professional gambling.</p> <p>As a result, his pension has now been slashed from around $820 a fortnight to just $328, with his wife's carer's payment has been affected too.</p> <p>"When I said I wanted it reviewed, they said are 'we going to apply the $5000 to your wife's carers allowance … because that's welfare as well'," Hill said.</p> <p>Because of the lotto win, the couple is losing around $2000 a month.</p> <p>The pensioner tried to ask The Lott to pay the money as a lump sum, but was told it didn't meet its criteria for an exceptional circumstance.</p> <p>Now he's hoping for changes to be made to the rules.</p> <p>"It has taken me 40 years to win a prize of the lottery … apart from $8 last week," Hill said.</p> <p>"At 61 I really haven't got another 40 years to wait to win another one."</p> <p>Craig's message to Centrelink is, "I'm not your enemy."</p> <p>"I'm just a bloke that's struggling to make a living," he said.</p> <p><em>Image credits: A Current Affair</em></p>

Money & Banking

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Puzzle-cracking Matthew McConaughey fans could win tickets to meet him

<p dir="ltr">If you consider yourself a sleuth or a puzzlemaster you could have a chance to meet Hollywood star Matthew McConaughey when he touches down in Australia for an “off-grid” concert.</p> <p dir="ltr">Fans hoping to see the <em>Dallas Buyers Club</em> actor at next month’s concert will need to identify the exclusive, secret location from a series of cryptic poems that will be shared on social media.</p> <p dir="ltr">Attendees of the concert, which will be headlined by Boy &amp; Bear, will be selected by the Aussie rock band.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-840c7e80-7fff-0519-3a62-0f7ca669d2c1"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">McConaughey shared the news with fans in a statement, encouraging hopefuls to trust their instincts.</p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/reel/CkJqaBSh4-6/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/CkJqaBSh4-6/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Wild Turkey Australia (@wildturkeyau)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p dir="ltr">“Trusting yourself, your instincts and spirit are the key to discovery and will always lead you down the right path in life, or a road up north,” the 52-year-old said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“For this reason, Wild Turkey and Boy &amp; Bear are challenging Aussies to let go of the monotony of the last few years and let yourselves discover again.</p> <p dir="ltr">“The Discovery Series Acoustic Session fuels this spirit. However, it's more than discovery; it's for the love of the wilderness, and the enjoyment of bourbon and, most of all, music.”</p> <p dir="ltr">“So, sit back, check into the words and Trust Your Spirit – I'll be waiting patiently to congratulate those who take on the journey.”</p> <p dir="ltr">In a clip shared on social media, McConaughey described the event as a “very special evening out in nature”.</p> <p dir="ltr">Each of the clues will be posted on Wild Turkey’s official Instagram page.</p> <p dir="ltr">McConaughey has been involved with the bourbon brand since 2016, when he came on as its Creative Director and became the “chief storyteller”, according to the Wild Turkey website.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Wild Turkey has the history and qualities of a brand that depicts the dedication of someone to do something their own way – even if that way isn’t always the most popular,” McConaughey says on the site.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I want to help share their unique story.”</p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-624508ed-7fff-371f-a062-e0a09cca888f"></span></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: @officialmcconaughey (Instagram)</em></p>

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