Anita was the lucky winner of the biggest ever Cowboys 50-50 Charity Raffle cash prize.
The final North Queensland Toyota Cowboys NRL-NRLW home crowd of the season has helped the club finish on a fundraising high, with a record $100,772 in tickets sold in Saturday’s Cowboys 50-50 Charity Raffle, presented by Green Energy Technologies.
That produced an all-time Cowboys record cash prize of $50,386 which went to Townsville local Anita, who was clearly still in shock when she received her massive cheque after the NRL Cowboys v Broncos game.
A Cowboys member and supporter, Anita said her Cowboys-crazy son got her hooked on footy and he was right on the money when it came to winning the prize too.
“I can’t believe it; I was shaking when I found out - it’s the biggest prize ever!” she said.
“It was such an exciting game, and the crowd was so loud that I missed a few phone calls, but my son was at the game too and he saw my name come up on the big screen and he said, ‘was that you?’ and it was!
“It’s just awesome, I’ll pay off some of the mortgage and we’re going to Vegas next year for the football, so it’s going to be an excellent holiday now. Oh…but my son doesn’t know about that yet… I guess he will now - surprise!”
The Cowboys 50-50 Charity Raffle is one of the Cowboys Community Foundation’s most significant fundraising activities throughout the year, with 50% of the total ticket sales going to the lucky winner and the other half supporting the Foundation’s life-changing programs.
But on Saturday it obliterated all expectations - the Round 26 draw is officially the top selling Cowboys 50-50 Charity Raffle of all time (up 68% from the previous highest total of $59,987 at the 2024 Knights semi-final), it almost doubled the previous highest draw this season (up 95.9% from $51,442 in round 14 against the Storm), and it is the highest total at any NRL or AFL regular game including State of Origin held at Queensland stadiums in 2025.
- 2022 Lions v Demons (Gabba): $136,544
- 2024 Broncos v Cowboys (Suncorp Stadium): $123,808
- 2024 Broncos v Dolphins (Suncorp Stadium): $114,695
- 2024 State of Origin 3 (Suncorp Stadium): $103,443
- 2025 Cowboys v Broncos (Queensland Country Bank Stadium): $100,772
The Cowboys 50-50 Charity Raffle has raised $228,000 for the Cowboys charity this season.
“We are just completely blown away by this amazing result,” said Cowboys Community Foundation CEO Fiona Pelling.
“Our team was confident we’d see a big total at the sold-out game, and we set a $20,000 guaranteed cash prize, but we were hoping to give away $30,000 so this has just exceeded all expectations.
“We’re so happy for Anita and all our winners this season, and grateful to Cowboys members, fans and the broader community for getting behind our 50-50 Charity Raffle like never before.
“Hundreds of volunteers have helped us achieve what we never thought possible including many corporate teams, our regular Queensland Police Service Recruits, and countless other individual legends who give up their time to turn up for us every home game.”
