New South Wales Man Wins $1.2M Payout on Lottery Draw

A man in New South Wales (NSW) managed to scoop the equivalent of $1.2 million (AU$1.6 million) with a single lottery ticket after he won twice with the same numbers on the same ticket in a lottery draw. The person, who has not been named by the lottery operator in the state, has been a frequent player and he had an unwavering commitment to the draws.

Man Wins Double the Prize with Single Ticket

He would always play the same numbers. On this fateful occasion, though, he played the numbers twice on a single ticket which won him two prizes worth roughly $600,000 each (AU$800,000). The Mon & Wed Lotto usually allows more people to claim a prize if there is more than one winner.

The maximum is capped at five winners and as such, a person can actually win twice if they play the same winning numbers twice as well. The anonymous winner turned a good payday with their regular numbers, name 20, 21, 13, 11, 16, 18, which on this occasion turned out a success. Even more bizarrely, though, the man didn’t know he had won.

This is not exactly surprising given that millions worth of dollars go unclaimed in lotteries around the world, as sloppy ticket owners either never check in with the draws or just lose the tickets. In this case, the Port Macquarie resident confirmed for the lottery that he took a while before checking his ticket to find out that he had won double time.

The winner confirmed that he would be buying a number of things, including a new car and perhaps a home. They would surely make sure their family is looked after as well. Players from all over the world have kept playing the lottery in a bid to hit that life-changing amount that would make things better. These numbers have been going up as well.

Lottery Spending Worldwide Is Going Up

The average American, for example, spent around $219.54 on the lottery in 2017. However, a survey carried out in 2019 indicated that the average American actually spends $1,000 on lottery tickets. Australians as a whole spend around $1.9 billion on the lottery every year. The lottery has been one of the most popular gambling forms worldwide and they are generally allowed even in jurisdictions where gambling laws are normally tougher.