Aussie man left $2.5m Lotto ticket in tin while preparing 'mentally'

SYDNEY - A Newcastle man who won a A$2 million ($2.49 million) Lotto prize avoided claiming his winnings for seven months while he prepared himself mentally.

The 48-year-old small businessman discovered his win on January 13, the morning after the draw, but has been storing the ticket in a tin since then.

He contacted NSW Lotteries on Thursday to collect the win.

"I'm a bit of a crazy sort of bloke," he told John Vineburg, from NSW Lotteries.

"I had the winning ticket in a tin in a safe spot so there was no rush.

"I actually thought about leaving it another couple of months.

"There was something about claiming that much money that I wasn't ready for, I had to get my head around it. I just wanted to prepare myself mentally before I put my hands on it."

The winner, who did not want to be identified, said just having the ticket was comforting.

"When you're running a small business you never know where the next dollar is coming from, and it was a comforting thing to have the ticket as a buffer against anything that might go wrong financially," he said.

Mr Vineburg said he had not encountered anyone else who had waited to claim a multi-million dollar prize.

"I was shocked. I was more shocked at his story than (he was) at winning lotto," Mr Vineburg said.

"It's extremely uncommon for people to sit on the prize for months at a time, knowing that they are the winner."

The winner said his four children knew he had come into some money, but he wanted to ensure his family isn't affected by the sudden wealth.

"I'm going to keep on working, and the kids are going to have to work for a living too, but it takes the pressure off," he told Mr Vineburg.

"You can go out and do silly things like buying sports cars after you win Lotto, but that's not for me."

He told NSW Lotteries he is planning to take his family overseas, and will also donate to charity.

The winning ticket was purchased from Lake Haven Centre Newsagency at Gorokan, with owner David Goodwin pleased the mystery of the unclaimed ticket had finally been solved.

- AAP