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Birthday gift earns Australian man a $185,000 lottery prize

A Noosa, Australia, man said a scratch-off lottery ticket that was given to him as a birthday present turned out to be a winner worth more than $185,000. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI
A Noosa, Australia, man said a scratch-off lottery ticket that was given to him as a birthday present turned out to be a winner worth more than $185,000. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

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Feb. 11 (UPI) -- An Australian man had extra reason to celebrate on his birthday when a scratch-off lottery ticket he received as a gift earned him a jackpot of more than $185,000.

The Noosa, Queensland, man told The Lott officials he received the Live the Life scratch-off ticket as a birthday present.

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"I received this as a gift from my family for my birthday," he said. "I actually scratched it on my birthday on the weekend. I did it first thing in the morning."

The man said he was stunned when he say he had won a jackpot of $185,546.40.

"I thought it was too good to be true," he recalled. "I showed a few friends and some family, and they weren't sure about it either. They thought it might be a novelty ticket or we'd just confused ourselves thinking we'd won something good."

The player said reality didn't set in until he took the ticket to a lottery office and the prize was confirmed.

"I was blown away! It's made turning another year older a hell of a lot easier," he said. "It was a very pleasant surprise. I'm not sure how my family is going to top this birthday next year!"

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The man said he and his family are still considering how to spend the winnings.

"We're thinking we might use it to enjoy our retirement and travel around Australia," he said.

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