He was at work when the phone rang. A Lotterywest representative was on the line, and his Saturday Lotto ticket had taken the Division One prize.
"I had an alert on my account, but it doesn't say how much you've won, then someone called to say I'd won the Division One prize," he told Lotterywest.
The prize was A$2.1 million, and the Perth man was one day short of his 63rd birthday. Lotterywest, Western Australia's official lottery operator, lists three Division One winners nationally for Saturday Lotto draw 4707, drawn on Saturday 29 August 2026 — one of them in WA — at A$2,110,193.37 each.
The call he made them repeat to his son
He buys a Slikpik through Lotterywest Play Online each week, and by his own account he had no idea anything had changed until that call reached him at work. He did not keep the call to himself.
"I work with my son, so I put him on the phone and made them tell him as well, just to make sure I wasn't hearing things," he said.
"I was shaking so I had to get my son to look up the amount online and he said, 'you've won $2.1 million dollars Dad!', I think I was in shock."
He had never won anything before, he said, and he described the win as "life-changing".
"When I was 20, I won a dinghy in a raffle and I also consider meeting my wife a huge win, but after that this is the biggest thing that's ever happened to me," he laughed.
Two birthday dinners, then Egypt
With a birthday landing the next day, one sitting was not going to cover it.
"I love Asian food so we're off to have some laksa, but this birthday celebration will be a bit different, I think we'll go out for dinner two nights in a row to make the most of the celebration," he said.
"My family like KFC and I love Malaysian so this year we'll probably do both."
The longer-range plans were already partly drawn. He had been speaking to a financial adviser about retirement before the win, and told Lotterywest he can now fast track those plans. He also intends to fly himself and his wife business class to Egypt and the Maldives.
"We're also going to pay off the mortgage and put some money aside for the family, this is life changing for us and I want to make sure my family are looked after too."
In Australia, lottery prizes are not treated as assessable income. That is general information rather than advice, and a sum like this is still worth walking through with a professional.
Where Lotterywest says the profits go
Lotterywest spokesperson Nikki Wilson-Smith said all available profits from Lotterywest games go back to the WA community, funding grants that run from arts festivals to work on access to health services across the state.
Wilson-Smith added: "It's a special moment to see the impact that this win has on this family and it's even better when you know that every Lotto ticket sold funds initiatives that improve the lives of West Australians."
What makes this story stick is not really the size of it. It is the son on the other end of the phone, the amount read off a screen because Dad's hands were shaking, and the laksa. A Saturday Lotto Division One prize is a genuine long shot, and it stays one every week: draws are random and independent, and playing the same entry each week builds up no claim on the next one. The full numbers for that night sit on the draw page for 29 August, and a ticket you never got around to checking can go through the ticket checker.
He is going out for dinner two nights in a row. Of everything ahead of him — Egypt, the Maldives, a mortgage cleared — that is the detail the release opens on, which is a fair measure of what A$2.1 million looked like from the inside on the eve of a 63rd birthday.
If gambling is no longer fun, free and confidential support is available 24/7 from Gambling Help Online on 1800 858 858.
Always confirm winning numbers, prize amounts, and deadlines with the official operator before acting on a ticket — the operator's published results are the only ones that count.
Sources
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Lotterywest, 2 September 2026 — Perth man claims $2.1 million win on his birthday eve
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Lotterywest, Saturday Lotto draw 4707, 29 August 2026 — division results from the official Lotterywest results data; Lotterywest also publishes Saturday Lotto results at its results page.
