One very lucky Australian man is now £25m richer after winning the lottery twice in a single night.
He had played the same numbers for 30 years, but accidentally bought two identical tickets for Tuesday’s draw instead of one.
The blunder doubled his winnings from £12.5m to £25m – arguably making it one of the luckiest mistakes in history.
Lottery spokesman Matt Hard said: “What’s remarkable about tonight’s draw is that there were three division one entries, but two winners.”
“The reason for this, the two Victorian entries are held by the one registered player.”
When an official attempted to make the “heart-pounding phone call” to the newly minted multimillionaire, who is from St Albans in Melbourne, he initially did not answer.
Thankfully, the winner eventually picked up, and said: “You’re kidding! – am I seeing things?
“I just checked my entry online and I think I know what you’re about to tell me.
“I’m speechless. I can’t believe it. I just finished work for the night. I need time for the news to register. I might think about retiring. First maybe a new home or a holiday. I’ll definitely share it with my family.”
Lottery organisers are now desperately trying to find the owner of the third winning ticket, who is yet to come forward to claim their £12.5m prize.
Because the ticket was unregistered, officials have no way of getting in touch to let them know about the massive windfall.
By Tania Snuggs
Courtesy: Sky News
