Man wins $1 million lottery with the numbers his family has played for 50 years

It took 50 years, but an Australian man’s lucky lottery numbers finally came through to win him $1 million.

The Brisbane man, who chose to remain anonymous, matched all six numbers in the August 17 Gold lotto drawing using the numbers his father picked decades ago.

“They’re my dad’s numbers. They’re some family birth dates and other numbers. My family’s been playing them for about 50 years,” he said in a statement released by the Lott, Australia’s official lotteries.

He said he kept his dad’s numbers — 20, 31, 10, 22, 37 and 12 — and has been playing them consistently for some time.

Lottery officials called the winner at work to let him know about his prize.

“I thought for sure this was a practical joke. I just can’t believe this,” the man said in the statement.

Once he realized it wasn’t a prank call, the man said he had plans for the $1 million (about $715,000 in US dollars).

“The mortgage is gone! It will be great to get that well and truly off my back,” he said. “It’d be great to get a caravan and put some into savings.”

The man told lottery officials that he usually doesn’t check his numbers, so he was glad they called.