Australian man wins 16-room Pacific island resort with US$49 raffle ticket
The lucky winner will take ownership of a resort, which is debt-free, profitable and has more than 20 years left on its lease
A lucky Australian man has won his own remote Pacific island resort in a raffle, after shelling out just US$49 for the winning ticket to claim the paradise property.
The man, identified as Joshua, won the 16-room Micronesian resort in a draw organised by the Australian owners, who were looking to hand over the lodge to someone like-minded.
Ahead of the draw, co-owner Doug Beitz said he was hoping the winner would be “someone who likes warm weather, likes meeting new people from around the world, is adventurous”.
A video posted on Facebook revealed the winning number, drawn on Tuesday evening by a computer, to be ticket 44,980.
But Doug’s efforts to reach the new owner by phone and inform him of his life-changing win were not immediately successful.
He eventually tracked the lucky winner down and gave him the good news.
“His name is Joshua and he’s from Australia,” Doug said, adding that he lived in New South Wales state.