A man from southern Israel made history on Wednesday by winning the largest-ever lottery jackpot in Israeli history: 76 million shekels ($23 million).
The man, whose name was not released, came forward days after Israeli gaming authorities said they were looking for him so that he could be awarded the unprecedented sum.
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The man has two children and several grandchildren and lives in a city that was heavily targeted by rockets launched by Hamas terrorists from the Gaza Strip in recent weeks.
"I rarely buy lottery tickets," said the winner, who only found out about his victory early morning the next day after the winning numbers were announced.
"Today I was supposed to go to work after a long time that I had been on leave. I got into my car, and before even starting it, I opened the lottery app because I wanted to know if I had won," he recalled. "When I realized that I had indeed won, I sat in my car for a few minutes so that I could process this," the stunned winner said.
After his victory, the winner shared that he had a dream in which he was visited by deceased family members who assured him he would no longer have financial worries and difficulties because he was destined to win the lottery.
The man plans to distribute his win evenly among his children to purchase apartments, take a family trip abroad and retire with his wife.
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