Close call for Lotto winner who was minutes away from losing $2.8M windfall
One of Australia’s newest millionaires almost washed away a fortune when he left his winning Lotto ticket in his pants in the washing machine.
The Belmont man from Perth bought the winning Division 1 ticket ahead of last Saturday’s $20 million Lotto draw.
The lucky winner, in his late twenties, put the ticket in his pocket and decided to do a load of laundry before the draw.
He managed to save the ticket worth $2.8 million.
“After five minutes I realized it and stopped the washing machine to get the ticket, luckily it was safe,” he told Perth Now.
A Perth man almost made a multi-million dollar mistake by accidentally putting his winning Division I ticket into his washing machine. He forgot that he left it in his pocket after purchasing the unregistered ticket
After the close call, the Lotto winner was able to claim his prize at Lotterywest headquarters this week.
“I couldn’t think, I couldn’t sleep, I’m still processing the win,” he said.
The winning ticket was purchased at the Here’s Luck Lottery Center in Belmont Forum.
He was seven First Division Superdraw winners across the country on Saturday.
Two players from NSW, Victoria and Queensland shared Saturday’s $20 million prize.
“It all turned out fine for this player, but it’s a reminder for players to register their ticket to avoid a multimillion-dollar mistake,” said Lotterywest spokesman James Mooney.
He added that Saturday night’s Superdraw ticket sales raised more than $3.8 million for Lotterywest’s grant program.
After the lucky gambler realized his ticket had been in the wash for five minutes, he stopped the machine and saved the ticket. Miraculously, the ticket was not damaged and won a share of Saturday’s $20 million Division 1 prize money – a total of $2.8 million