Man wins nearly $150,000 on birthday gift lottery ticket

July 30 (UPI) -- An Australian man who won a nearly $150,000 lottery jackpot said he didn't even have to pay for his ticket -- it was a birthday gift.

The Tumut, New South Wales, man told The Lott officials he didn't realize he had won $143,920 from the Lucky Lotteries Mega Jackpot drawing on Monday until his wife read in the newspaper that no winner had come forward.

"My wife was reading the paper, and she saw they were looking for a Lucky Lotteries Mega Jackpot winner from Tumut," he said. "I remembered I had some tickets that I'd been given as a birthday gift, so I came down to the newsagency to check them."

"That's when I found out I won. I thought 'Oh, my God,'" the man recalled.

The man said the first thing he planned to do after collecting his prize was to call into work and take the day off.

"Then I am going to get my family over for some celebratory drinks. I am just going to sit back and wonder how the hell this happened," he said. "I don't know what I will do with my prize. I will probably put it toward my retirement."