He won a fortune on the lottery, but nearly lost it all. A trivial mistake could have turned into a disaster

A father was delighted after his lottery numbers won him a £560,000 prize, but that delight turned to horror when he realised he had misplaced his ticket.

The man launched a massive search with his family members after realising he had won.

The resident of Dubbo West, New South Wales, Australia – whose name has not been released – scooped the A$1 million (£560,000) prize on Monday (27 February) as one of four first-division winners in Monday and Wednesday’s Lotto 4264 draw.

He bought the lucky ticket at the Dubbo West post office but, after realising his numbers had been entered, it disappeared.

Fortunately, the search didn’t last long.

Where she found the winning ticket

He said, “I had everyone look for it. Turns out it was in my wallet the whole time! I can’t believe it! I’m going to split this win with my kids and go on a trip! I’ve been playing for a few years and the most I’ve won is $1,000 (£560)! Thank you very much.”

Also read: How a Romanian won 4 million euros in the lottery. He paid a modest amount per ticket

Lea Callan, owner of Dubbo West Post Office, said her team was “so excited” to have sold the first winning ticket in the first division.

“We couldn’t believe it! We thought the news might have been a hoax e-mail,” he added.

There are, in fact, systems that allow Australian lottery winners to claim their prize if they lose their ticket, even if they are not registered players.

Customers who believe they have missed out on a big prize can fill in the lost and damaged ticket form and provide as much information about the ticket as possible.

This includes where it was purchased, how they paid for it and how many games they paid for.