After 6-month search, South Gippsland man comes forward as $2.1m Lotto winner

One lucky Victorian who found a multimillion-dollar Lotto ticket six months after the draw has explained why he didn’t check it at the time.

A six-month search has ended after the lucky winner of a multimillion-dollar lottery draw has been found.

Hailing from Wonthaggi in Victoria’s South Gippsland region, the man found the winning ticket in a Christmas card.

His wife had slipped the ticket – worth $2.1m – into the card, but it went unchecked for months as he said “life got in the way”.

“My wife always buys a lottery ticket for everyone in the family for Christmas,” he explained.

“We’d been away on holiday for a month over summer, and with everything else going on when we got back, I completely forgot about the ticket.

“I only thought the other day that I should check the ticket. I couldn’t believe it.

“Things like this never happen to us.”

The lucky winner checked his winning ticket six months late. Picture: NewsWire/ Gaye Gerard

He said the experience was “very surreal” and he looked forward to sharing the winnings with his loved ones.

“We’re going to divide it within the family; share the prize around and help others,” he said.

“It will help many people.”

The Lott had been searching for the ticket holder since the Christmas draw, but the entry was unregistered, so they had no way of contacting him.

The $2.1m windfall is part of a 14-way split from the $30m megadraw, with the money carved up among the division one winners.

There were six winners each in Victoria and NSW and two in Queensland.

The ticket was purchased from Lucky Lotto Wonthaggi Plaza, whose operators were thrilled to have sold a winning ticket.

“We were so excited to have sold a division one winning entry and make someone’s dreams come true. Even better to hear the winner has now discovered their multimillion-dollar prize,” said Gio, one of the owners.
“Before this division one winning entry, we hadn’t sold a division one winning entry since 31 January, 2022. This is our fifth division one prize sold over an 11-year period.”

Originally published as After 6-month search, South Gippsland man comes forward as $2.1m Lotto winner