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Four players who purchased Powerball tickets in Colorado received a huge surprise when they turned out to be winners in the drawing on Christmas Eve.

According to the Colorado Lottery, the winners took home prizes ranging from $100,000 to $500,000 in the drawing. A player who purchased a ticket in Arkansas won the $1.82 billion jackpot on Christmas Eve, the second largest U.S. lottery prize ever.

The biggest winner in Colorado will take home a $500,000 prize, thanks to a ticket they purchased at the King Soopers located at 1070 W Baptist Rd. in Colorado Springs. Another ticket sold in Colorado Springs, this one at the Circle K at 3211 Centennial Blvd., scored the winner $100,000.

In southern Colorado, a ticket purchased at the Alta Convenience located at 504 S. Prairie Ave. also brought the winner a $100,000 prize.

Another $100,000 winning ticket was sold at a 7-Eleven in Lonetree.

To claim their prizes, the winners must either bring their winning tickets and a valid government issued photo ID to one of the four claims centers, claim the prize online, or mail a completed Colorado Lottery Prize Claim Form and a signed winning ticket to Colorado Lottery.

The next Powerball drawing takes place on Monday, Dec. 29, with a jackpot worth $33 million.

The ABC has travelled more than 550 kilometres across regional Victoria and South Australia to find out whether drivers are still giving courtesy waves along our highways and country roads. 

The “wave test drive” started in Mildura in Victoria’s north-west, through the towns of Ouyen, Speed, Patchewollock, Walpeup, and along the Mallee Highway before crossing the South Australian border, with the driver waving at every passing vehicle.

From there, the ABC headed north to Loxton via Pinnaroo, through Swan Reach and Blanchetown before finally arriving at Truro, a town 80km north-east of Adelaide.

The results showed an uncertain future for the courtesy wave, with drivers from just 33 of the 374 vehicles the ABC passed waving back.

On the highways, 25 waved back from 362 vehicles, while eight out of 12 waved on the back roads.

Even though the results were a small sample of Australia’s road network, it highlighted that while the wave might be declining on highways, it remained strong on back roads between small towns.

However, locals had differing opinions on the future of the wave.

Speed local Meredith Rowney said the wave had decreased in regularity over time, but the type of road a person was travelling on mattered.

“If you’re in a small country town where you know people, you are more likely to wave than in the bigger centres where you don’t know people,” Ms Rowney said.

“I think living locally, we see our friends driving past us, or our neighbours, so we wave to many people that pass us, as well as those that give way to us or do something kind.”

Ouyen fuel tank driver Paul Dean said the wave happened regularly, but more likely between towns.

“Country people are still country people; everyone waves to everyone,” Mr Dean said.

NSW tourist Brad, who was travelling through Truro, said the gesture might be happening more often.

“My 13-year-old son is teaching me different forms of doing it, so if it’s in his sphere, then more people are doing it,” he said.

Interstate driver sees a decline

Interstate truck driver Pete Kelly has been in the industry for 40 years and said the wave had “all but died off”.

“People seem to be in too much of a rush, without having any courtesy,” Mr Kelly said.

“Back in the day, when I first started, it was there all the time, and drivers would acknowledge each other, whether you were overtaking or coming towards each other, you always acknowledged the other driver.

“[Even] car drivers … I rarely see [the wave] these days.”

Truck driver and road safety advocate Rod Hannifey shared a similar view.

“[It] seems noticeable that it has dropped off,” Mr Hannifey said.

“It’s disappointing from the point of view that where we used to wave to truckies all the time, it was part of the mateship and the culture, and that seems to have died off … in one way that’s a bad thing, [since] we are out there alone on the road.

“There are a number of reasons for that; I suppose phones are probably a big one … in the past, we relied on UHF radio and before that CB [radio].

Mr Hannifey said a campaign had started in NSW called “Wave to a Truckie” to promote “the wave”. He also hoped to introduce a National Wave Day next year.

Wave improves road safety

Australia Road Safety Foundation chair and founder Russell White said bringing back the wave could shift the road culture, which in recent years had dropped due to poor driver behaviour and increased road aggression.

“I guess there’s been a general decrease in a whole stack of our more social connection mechanisms that we might have traditionally had,” Mr White said.

 “[The wave] resets that narrative a little bit … [and] could change the overall culture on the road, just one driver, one road user at a time.”

Mr White said the friendly gesture would help with awareness on the road.

“I think anything that could re-establish a connection is probably a really good tool to improve the overall level of road safety awareness,” he said.

Furious customers have slammed the corporate watchdog for failing to investigate a whistleblower’s allegations against a luxury caravan manufacturer months before it collapsed. 

Sunshine Coast-based Zone RV plunged into administration on December 1 owing $42 million to hundreds of creditors, including $18 million to about 180 customers who had partly or fully paid for caravans.

About 140 customers have been told they will not get their vans, with some families up to $190,000 out of pocket.

There is now growing anger that a whistleblower complaint from a former senior Zone RV employee was ignored.

In September, former chief financial officer Kim Hodgkins reported allegations of misconduct and insolvent trading by the company during late 2023 to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

The ABC has seen a series of emails where Ms Hodgkins warned senior management in November 2023 that the company was running out of cash and spending needed to be slashed, due to a $5 million shortfall in revenue targets.

“As previously discussed, our current [cash] position is we have $527,000,” Ms Hodgkins wrote.

Another email shows major electronics supplier Redarc put a temporary stop credit on Zone RV in October 2023 due to an unpaid account.

When Zone RV collapsed, they owed Redarc almost $2.5 million.

Investigation declined

ASIC told Ms Hodgkins by email on October 30 this year that it would not formally investigate her claims.

“[We] are selective about the matters we pursue to ensure we use our resources to target misconduct effectively,” the regulator said.

“We have considered all of the information you provided and conducted our own preliminary and confidential enquiries.

Ms Hodgkins urged the watchdog to reconsider, and when they did not reply, she emailed ASIC chief executive Scott Gregson.

Senior executive Peter Witham, in charge of misconduct reports and whistleblowers, replied on November 17, confirming ASIC would “undertake a review of our assessment of your report”.

Two days later, on November 19, Zone RV’s corporate advisor sounded out administrators Cor Cordis about a potential insolvency appointment, according to documents lodged with ASIC.

Cor Cordis held several meetings with Zone RV’s sole director, David Biggar, in the following days, before the company formally entered administration on December 1.

It is unclear whether there is any link between ASIC’s review of the whistleblower’s report and the administrators’ appointment.

Customers furious

Trudi Wight and her husband run a kitchen business in Kempsey and sold their investment property to buy a Zone RV caravan.

Ms Wight said losing life savings was “very distressing” and she was angry that ASIC initially refused to investigate claims of wrongdoing.

“We pay taxes to [fund] ASIC, and I feel really let down — they’re meant to protect us in this situation,” she said.

Brook Waugh owns a sawmill near Bellingen in northern NSW and says he is “pissed off” with the corporate watchdog.

Mr Waugh had paid Zone RV more than $150,000 in progress payments for his caravan.

“What is the point of ASIC when they were notified but didn’t do anything for months?” he said.

“They could’ve saved so many people so much life savings.

Eduard Planken OAM — who acts as a spokesman for 86 out-of-pocket customers — has “a major problem with ASIC”.

“This is a government body supposed to be working in the best interests of everybody,” he said.

“They should have stepped in and said, ‘Halt’ before innocent people lost their money.”

Regulator handicapped

An ASIC spokesperson told the ABC the regulator received more than 10,000 reports of misconduct each year but was only resourced to formally investigate a few hundred claims.

“External administrators are required to report to ASIC if it appears to them that a person may have committed an offence or engaged in misconduct in relation to the company,” a spokesperson said.

“It is the duty of appointed directors to prevent insolvent trading under the Corporations Act, and a range of civil and criminal penalties may be imposed by the court for any proven breaches.”

Several customers are considering launching a class action against ASIC, although the regulator has broad immunity against litigation.

The ABC is aware of at least four customers who have lodged fraud reports with the Australian Federal Police.

In response to questions, an AFP spokesperson said: “This is not a matter for the AFP.”

Cor Cordis will present its report to creditors in January, which will outline how Zone RV collapsed.