You lose your house by fire, you get $1 million in lottery.

An unidentified man's home in New South Wales burned at the end of last year, and he feared that he could not be rebuilt because he did not have insurance, according to Australian lottery authorities.

But he rejoiced on Thursday when he was contacted at work and was told that he won the highest prize of $1 million Australians or about 660,000 U.S. dollars.

The winner who wanted to remain anonymous said he was upset knowing he could now rebuild his family's destroyed house.

I can't wait to go home and give my wife a big kiss and a pet! ”, he said.

Officials in New South Wales, where the lottery winner lived, say 1,870 houses were destroyed by fires, acknowledging that “shifra is likely to grow”.

Since Thursday, 132 fires were still burning in the badly hit region, 55 of which had not yet died out, officials said on Twitter.