When he presented his ticket for checking he was transferred by telephone to a NSW Lotteries operator to confirm the size of his windfall.
“I heard the lady say ‘one million, nine hundred’ and I didn’t hear the rest of the amount. Tears came to my eyes and I started shaking,” he said
The winner described himself as an extremely frugal person who would not be splurging his money this Christmas.
“I’ve been paying debts from a failed business venture for the last seven years, so I’ve been living on nothing basically,” he said.
“I’ve just bought a new clipper because I do my own haircutting. I dropped the last one and I had to spend $30 on another one as an early Christmas present to myself.
“The only splurging I’ll do will be a trip to London for Christmas, and maybe a new car when I came back home. I’ll buy a small car, as I don’t need a real big car.
“I’m also looking at an apartment to buy and live in. I might even buy where I rent now.
“I’ve been fretting for my future. I’m 62, I rent, and I’ve got $17,000 in Super and $6,000 in my savings account. I thought, ‘I’ll have to keep working until I drop dead’.
“I don’t have to worry about anything now, I just don’t. I only have to worry about making the money last.”
The winning ticket was purchased at Pigott’s Newsagency, 163-165 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst.
NSW Lotteries is urging players to register their entries in the upcoming $30 million Superdraw draw on 29 December.
“This winner’s story had a happy ending, but as an unregistered player it was quite possible he would have thrown away his ticket and never known he was throwing away millions, let alone the thousands in interest already forgone”, NSW Lotteries Communications Manager John Vineburg said today.
“We strongly recommend that unregistered players spend a little extra to register their entries. For just $3.30, players can protect their prizes with Players Club for a year,” he added.