After Losing His House to Australian Bushfire, Man Wins $1 Million in Lottery

A victim of the New South Wales bushfires has seen his luck turn around, winning lotto winning $1 million after losing his family home.

The Mount Cotton resident, who wished to remain anonymous, described the timing of his Gold Lotto win as “impeccable” and said his family could now afford to rebuild.

When contacted by Golden Casket the man was oblivious to his win and couldn’t believe it when he was told.


He's calling last night's lucky $1 million win "a miracle".

“Am I seeing things? Is this real?,” he said.

“My family just lost their home in the bushfires in northern New South Wales and it wasn’t insured, so thank you very much.”


The resident held the only division one winning entry nationally and will take home a prize of $1 million.

“I can’t wait to go home and give my wife a big kiss and a cuddle,” he said.

A firefighter hosed down trees and flying embers in an effort to secure nearby houses from bushfires near the town of Nowra in the Australian state of New South Wales. Image: AFP/Saeed Khan

“The entry was marked with her special numbers and now they’ve delivered in a big way.”

The winner said he hoped the windfall symbolised the beginning of better things to follow as all that was left post the fires was a few charred teacups.


“This really has come at the most incredible time,” he said.

“We didn’t know if we would ever be able to rebuild but now we definitely can.

“This is a miracle.”

The winning ticket was purchased online and was drawn Wednesday after choosing the numbers 9, 42, 24, 13, 22 and 11 while the supplementary numbers were 26 and 1.

BUSHFIRE CRISIS

The bushfires continue to sweep across the nation and the NSW Rural Fire Service (NSWRFS) recently released updated figures of the damage it has caused in the state.

Building Impact Assessment teams continue assessing damage to properties. This season 1,870 homes destroyed & over 22,000 buildings saved. Teams assessed over 10,000 buildings since 1 January, confirming the loss of 954 homes. This figure is likely to increase. #nswrfs #nswfires pic.twitter.com/TcBKPg8700

— NSW RFS (@NSWRFS) January 8, 2020

According to the latest figures 1870 homes have been destroyed in the state while 753 have been damaged.


The NSWRFS has managed to save over 11,600 homes since New Years with the NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian pledging $1 billion to rebuild.

“This is to rebuild communities and focus on infrastructure that’s either been damaged, destroyed or need improving, and it’s to ensure that communities can have confidence in rebuilding,” she said.

The $1 billion pledge is on top of the $231 million already committed to disaster assistance, which included $166 million specifically for fire fighting.


Currently more than 2500 firefighters are still in the field preparing for worsening conditions over the weekend.

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This article first appeared on News.com.au.

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