‘I just walked out’: Man’s instant decision after winning the $50m Oz Lotto prize
A tradie walked off the job mid-shift with no plan to return after finding out he had become $50 million richer.
The winner took two days to check his ticket in Tuesday’s Oz Lotto draw after hearing the winning prize had been sold at Leumeah Newsagency, in southwest Sydney, where he purchased his ticket.
After realising the winning numbers were his in a quick Google search, he phoned his daughter asking her to double check before making an immediate smug departure from work.
“I was just at work and heard that the division one prize had not been claimed. So I got my ticket and Googled the numbers and saw that I had all of the winning numbers,” he told NSW Lotteries.
“I still wasn’t sure I’d won, so I called my daughter and asked her to check the numbers and she said to me ‘oh my god dad, I think you’ve won’.”
“As soon as she said that I just walked out from work. I didn’t say anything. I was just thinking: ‘oh my god’.”
The keen fisherman headed home to “have a sit down and just calm down”, telling officials “gosh I have a good life”.
He said it was unlikely he’d ever return to work and planned on using the money to buy a house on the beach and spoil his family and friends.
“This is just so much money. I want to help all of my family, my wife’s family and my friends. I am definitely not going to work,” he said.
“I want to buy a house by the beach and spend all my days fishing and golfing.
“But money is not everything to me. My friends and family mean more to me than money, so I want to use it wisely and I want to share it with them.”
Owner of Leumeah Newsagency Ben Van Cao said he was ecstatic his winning customer had finally come forward to claim his prize.
“It’s fantastic news and we’re very happy. This is a small community. We look after them and they look after us,” he said.
“It means a lot for a big prize like this to land in our community. People here work hard and they deserve to win. We wish our winner all the very best with their prize.”
The entry was not registered to a player card meaning officials had no way to contact the ticket holder and break the mind-blowing news.
The winning numbers were 5, 32, 22, 13, 20, 25 and 42, while the supplementary numbers were 21 and 23.
There are more chances to win big with Saturday Lotto having an estimated $4 million up for grabs.
The jackpot skyrocketed to $50 million after the top prize went unclaimed for six consecutive weeks.
Meanwhile, Yahoo has sought out expert advice on whether winning lotto numbers can be predicted.
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