Australia Lotto/PixabayLet me just ask you to press pause on whatever you’re doing and think about the following question for a moment: what would you do if you found out you’d won $96 million right now?
I’ll be honest with you, I just asked my editor that very same question and he said – and I quote – ‘buy property and lots of it’, so I’m hoping your answers will be much more awe-inspiring and much less yawn-inducing than that.
Travelling around the world on the holiday of a lifetime, buying a casino in Las Vegas, buying an exotic animal reserve and pretty much living there forever (as you can see there’s a theme – basically anything that will get me out of the UK, ASAP).
PAOne Australian who won the Jackpot Prize in Lucky Lotteries Mega Jackpot on Tuesday (August 27) had similar ideas, although he didn’t need to leave the UK what with not being in it, saying he was taking an ‘endless lunch break’ from his job and planning an ‘outrageous holiday’.
The office worker, who is also a father and husband from Chatswood, Sydney, received the news he was taking home the $96,040,000 jackpot (almost £53 million) during the middle of his workday and couldn’t suppress his shock at being told he was now a multi-millionaire.
The man, who wishes to remain anonymous, exclaimed, as per The Lott:
You’re sh*tting me! I can only say holy sh*t. Jesus Christ! I’m at work at the moment so I wasn’t expecting this phone call. I’m shaking. I’m just waiting for someone to tell me I’m being punked.
Admitting he was ‘stunned’, the man said he couldn’t wait to call his wife and tell her he had won, adding: ‘I don’t think she’ll believe me. I’m a bit of a prankster so she’ll probably think I’m pulling a fast one’.
Australia LottoThe Sydney father is the second-biggest individual lottery winner in Australian history; the current record for the biggest individual lottery win in the country was set in January this year, when a Sydney woman won a massive $107.5 million Powerball prize (£59 million).
Okay so there appears to be a pattern here. Maybe I should move to Sydney and try my luck out with the lottery over there? It certainly seems to be the way forward.
When asked how he planned to spend his lottery winnings, the man’s thoughts turned to his family:
This is going to change my life immeasurably. I’m going to look after my kids and make sure they are set up for the future.
Then I am going to find the most outrageous holiday I can think of to take myself on. I’ve always wanted to travel so maybe I’ll work my way around the world.
PixabayIn order to go on this trip of a lifetime, the man said he was ‘pretty sure’ he was going to quit his job there and then, adding: ‘It’s unlikely that I am going to finish the day out at work’.
Yet here I am slaving away waiting for five o’clock to roll around… I’m not jealous at all, promise.
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).