A man from a bushfire-ravaged town on the south coast of New South Wales won AU$2.5 million in Australia’s national lottery, Saturday Lotto Superdraw.
“I’m really shocked. I’m trying to write this down. My god,” he said when lottery officials contacted him over the phone.
“I am absolutely shocked! This is incredible. I am so grateful.”
The man, who wishes to remain anonymous, is a Batemans Bay resident whose town has been torn apart by bushfires since the beginning of the year.
He told 9 News that the win “couldn’t have come at a better time.”
“At the beginning of the year, the bushfires tore through the region,” he said.
“We didn’t personally lose our home but homes around us were destroyed and we were evacuated to the beach. The town was black and red. It was frightening.”
When asked how he is planning to spend the money, the winner said it would allow his wife an early retirement.
“I’ll be able to take my wife on a really nice holiday. Ironically, we were just recently talking about going to Europe,” he said.
“And my wife will also be able to stop working! I’m going to tell her that we’re going out for dinner tonight and I’ll break the news to her then.”
Saturday Lotto draws offer a guaranteed division one prize of AU$20 million or more. Players buy tickets and select six numbers between 1 and 45 to play the Superdraw.
The winning numbers for the Feb. 15 Superdraw were 4, 24, 21, 3, 11, and 39 with supplementary numbers 40 and 34.
The chances of having a division one entry are 8,145,060 to one, according to The Lott.
In 2019, there were 289 winners who took a home collective prize of more than $333 million, according to Daily Mail.
