I won lottery jackpot but gave half of it away thanks to an incredible twist – and my pals are in for a treat too

A GENEROUS man agreed to split his £57,000 jackpot prize after he made a pact with one of his closest friends.

The two old pals from Sydney, Australia struck a deal before winning big on a £3 Amazon scratch card last month.

The unidentified pensioner was given the ticket while our celebrating his 70^th birthday and described feeling in “complete disbelief” when the win was revealed.

 “It’s still not sinking in. I honestly can’t believe it,” he told an official from The Lott while claiming his prize.

“I celebrated my 70th birthday with a group of friends at Livoti’s in Dee Why the other day, and I received this Instant Scratch-Its ticket from one of my closest friends.

“I said to him, ‘If I win big on this, I’ll share half of the winnings with you’. The next thing we knew, I won the top prize worth $100,000! We were in absolute shock, complete disbelief!”

He confirmed to lottery officials that he would split the prize down the middle with both friends taking home roughly £28,000 each.

“We already planned to go out for dinner again with the same group”, he added.

“I’ll probably remember this birthday for the rest of my life!”

The gleeful resident said he already made plans to spend his huge windfall, including house renovations, a new car and a holiday.

His story comes just two wins after one lucky Australian scooped a massive £22million lotto jackpot, despite not even buying a ticket.  

In an incredible display of luck, the woman bagged the eye-watering Powerball prize after being gifted the ticket before the draw.

She said she is still trying to process her win and plans to split the cash with her family.

Meanwhile, a bitter legal dispute erupted between a couple who ran a winning lottery syndicate and a man trying to claim a slice of the cash.

The lottery syndicate, run by newsagency owners Tania and Kevin Parkes, scooped a whopping £36million in the Australian draw.

Everybody in the syndicate was asked to provide proof of their ticket to get their winnings, but when Mark Ing arrived, the couple had no record of him taking part.

He insisted he had a ticket for the draw and tried to claim £150,000.

But the Parkes – who run multiple syndicates for different Lotto prize pools – said he had bought a ticket in another syndicate and was not entitled to the cash.

The couple, from Western Australia, are now fighting Mr Ing in court to stop him claiming part of the winnings.