A Linz lottery millionaire's big dream: a patch of forest 

Seven-fold jackpot winner from Upper Austria wants to invest his winnings in gold, land and a new car

"I could barely sleep on the night from Wednesday to Thursday, and when I heard the news on the radio in the morning, I was blindsided." That's how this prize winner from Upper Austria described the moment his life as a multimillionaire began.

After watching the April 27 lottery draw on TV, Check and Double-Check on win2day and on Teletext, he knew that the six numbers on his lotto receipt were the right ones: he had hit the seven-fold jackpot. Not a bad thing to lose a night's sleep over. The following morning, one of the top stories on the radio news stated that there was one lucky winner of the main prize – emphasis on the "one". That's when he knew he had won the entire pot – a total of 9.8 million euros – and he wouldn't have to split it.

"To be honest, I wouldn't have minded if there had been ten winners," the married pensioner from Linz said modestly. "I still would have had a million."
He gave himself a full day of rest before he called Austrian Lotteries on Friday. In the meantime, he has met with the Austrian Lotteries director responsible for disbursing the winnings.

When asked what he plans to do with the prize, he stated that he wants to help his children get a solid financial footing as they progress into adult life. He'd also like to invest part of the money in gold and another part of it in land. "Maybe I'll buy a little piece of a forest somewhere," he added. That's not a wish you hear every day.

A more conventional wish is of course buying a new car, which he had already been considering but can now take care of with ease.