An Australia man who unknowingly kept a winning lottery ticket worth $100,000 in a drawer for five years said he was close to putting it through the shredder.
The anonymous winner got the shock of his life when he was told the old ticket had netted him first prize in a $2 million jackpot lottery draw, back in March 2001.
The man said he had been planning to get rid of the unchecked tickets he had amassed during his 30 year lottery hobby.
"I've had a drawer full of unregistered lottery tickets sitting in my desk for years," he said.
"I was virtually going to shred them in my shredder, but … I thought I'd take the other tickets in to be checked.
"So I filled up one of those green recycled supermarket shopping bags with tickets and took them in …"
Lottery officials called the man the next day, saying his bag full of tickets had carried a bit more than he bargained for.
"I got the call to say 'Are you sitting down because we've got some good news, one of your tickets has won $100,000'.
"I'm glad I took notice of the warning to sit down — it's quite a shock."
The office worker in his 50s said he planned to spend his surprise winnings on a new car and investing in the stock market.
NSW Lotteries John Vineburg said millions of dollars remained in unclaimed winnings, including a first prize Oz Lotto ticket from 1997 worth a $3.3 million.
"We're just urging everyone to go through their drawers, check under the lino because that little piece of paper could just be worth $1 million," he said.
Source: The Mercury
