A Batemans Bay resident who fled the bushfire-ravaged NSW South Coast town has woken up a multimillionaire.
The man, who wanted to remain anonymous, was overjoyed on Monday after he learned he had won $2.5 million in Saturday’s Lotto Superdraw.
“I had absolutely no idea,” he said. “I’ve dreamt about winning the lottery before and calling my family to tell them and now I can do that.”
The timely win comes just weeks after fires tore through the South Coast town in early January. Nearly 200 homes were destroyed in the region, leaving hundreds of devastated locals trapped on beaches up and down the coast.
“We didn’t personally lose our home but homes around us were destroyed and we were evacuated to the beach,” the man said.
“The town was black and red. It was frightening.”
It’s not the first turn of good fortune following this summer’s horrific bushfires. Earlier in 2020, a man who lost his uninsured house to fires in northern NSW snagged a $1 million lottery prize.
The Lott spokeswoman Lauren Cooney said that winner was grateful for the opportunity to rebuild his home.
“All that was left of the home was a few charred teacups,” he said at the time.
“We didn’t know if we would ever be able to rebuild but now we definitely can.”
