Man scoops £680k lotto jackpot but nearly misses out on prize after thinking win was ‘hoax’ as wife ‘didn’t believe him’
A MAN who scooped £680,000 in an Australian lottery nearly missed out on the prize after thinking the win was a hoax.
The lucky winner, from Darwin, almost didn't collect the money after being left in total disbelief when he saw all six of his numbers on the lottery app.
"Usually, I get an email straight after the draw that tells me how close I am to winning division one," the winner told
"But this time, I didn't, so when I woke up on Sunday morning, I logged into The Lott app and I saw I had all six numbers.
"I thought 'well, that's strange' and then I saw the prize amount, and I thought it must be some kind of hoax."
He was one of five winning entries in the TattsLotto draw with each person taking home £680,000 ($1,304,946.92).
The man, who wished to remain anonymous, said it took some time for him to believe that he had scooped the massive prize.
"I was holding my breath the whole time! I had to remember to breathe!" he said.
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"I told my wife, and she didn't believe me. She just kept saying, 'no, it can't be! It's got to be a hoax'."
On how he was going to spend the huge prize, he told the Mail that he would be paying off his mortgage.
"We will definitely pay off the mortgage," he said.
"And we are getting close to retirement, so we'd like to use it to enjoy our retirement."
In March another man from Darwin almost missed out on a huge sum of cash when he nearly didn't buy a lotto ticket after he left newsagents because it was too busy.
"You know, I nearly walked away from buying this ticket,"
"It was busy in-store, and I was in a rush, but I thought, 'bugger it, I'm here now. I'll buy it.
"I just grabbed a QuickPick. I usually buy a 12 game, but this time I went bigger, and that's what I won on. It must have been meant to be."