‘I had no idea’: Couple wins lottery but doesn’t realize it until 7 weeks later

SYDNEY (WKRC) — An Australian couple won millions in the lottery, but didn’t realize it until almost two months later.

The drawing was for the Set for Life jackpot on July 1 for AU$4.8 million, or $3.4 million in U.S. dollars. The couple says they left the ticket on a desk in their Sydney home for seven weeks before they decided to check and see if it was a winner, reports 7NEWS.

“I’m all shaken up at the moment,” the woman told The Lott. “I can’t believe it. I had no idea. … I kept saying, ‘I’ve got to go check this ticket’ and today we did.”

The couple will now receive more than the equivalent of $14,200 in U.S. dollars a month for the next two decades. The woman says she and her husband are thinking about retirement now.

“This has changed our lives. You’ve no idea what this means to us. Things like this just don’t happen to people like us,” she said.

According to news.com.au, the ticket was bought at a Nextra newsagency in Kiama, which also previously sold another winning ticket for $3.4 million, but it has been unclaimed since 2024.