One of Australia’s newest millionaires almost pocketed a fortune when he left his winning lottery ticket down his pants and in the washing machine.
The Belmont man from Perth bought the winning division one ticket ahead of last Saturday’s $20 million draw.
The lucky winner, in his twenties, put the ticket in his pants pocket and, before the drawing, decided to wash a good load.
He managed to save the ticket valued at 2.8 million dollars.
“After five minutes I realized and stopped the washing machine to get the note. Fortunately, it was safe,” he told Perth Now.
A Perth man almost made a multi-million dollar mistake by accidentally putting the winning division one ticket in his washing machine. He forgot that he left it in his pants pocket after purchasing the unregistered ticket.
After a difficult situation, the lottery winner was able to claim his prize this week at Lotterywest headquarters.
“I couldn’t think, I couldn’t sleep, I’m still processing the victory,” he said.
The winning ticket was purchased at Here’s Luck Lottery Center in Belmont Forum.
On Saturday there were seven winners of the first division Superdraw across the country.
Saturday’s $20 million prize was shared by two players from New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland.
“For this player, everything went well, but it’s a reminder for players to register their ticket to avoid what could be a multimillion-dollar mistake,” Lotterywest spokesman James Mooney said.
He added that Saturday night’s Superdraw ticket sales raised more than $3.8 million for Lotterywest’s grant program.
After the lucky bettor realized his bill had been in the wash for five minutes, he stopped the machine and rescued the bill. Miraculously, the ticket was undamaged and he won a share of Saturday’s $20 million division one prize money — a total of $2.8 million.