Home

Perth Lotto: Home renos lead to Lotto win for couch surfer

Staff Writer Wanneroo Times
A retiree has come forward as the missing Division One winner from last Saturday.
Camera IconA retiree has come forward as the missing Division One winner from last Saturday. Credit: Supplied

A Perth man who bought a Lotto ticket while couch surfing because of home renovations has won his second Division One prize in 20 years.

The retiree, who is in his late 60s, has come forward as the missing winner from last Saturday, claiming a prize of almost $1 million.

His winning ticket from the Saturday Lotto draw on July 17 was bought from Seacrest Newsagency in Wandina.

The man, who lives in Butler, had been couch surfing with his wife and visiting family while he waited for some home renovations to be completed.

Get in front of tomorrow's news for FREE

Journalism for the curious Australian across politics, business, culture and opinion.

READ NOW

“We recently sold our house and while our current house was being renovated, we decided to head to Geraldton to couch surf and look after the grandkids and bought the ticket up there as part of our weekly routine,” he said.

The winner checked his ticket at his regular newsagency in Butler, where he was told he had won Division One but thought it was $300,000.

“The printout said there were three Division One winners, so I simply divided it by three. I didn’t realise I’d won $999,000 until I got to Lotterywest’s head office,” he said.

This is the second time the man has won Division One on Saturday Lotto, having taken home a prize of $474,000 in 2004.

“We hope to eventually go overseas, but this time all future travel will be up the pointy end of the plane,” he said.

Lotterywest Senior Media and Communications Officer, Hermione Coleman, said with Saturday Lotto the most popular Lotto game in WA, all eyes were on this weekend’s Superdraw.

“This weekend Saturday’s prize pool will be bumped from an estimated $5 million to an incredible $20 million,” she said.

“Our advice is to get your tickets early with sales peaking on draw day.”

Get the latest news from thewest.com.au in your inbox.

Sign up for our emails