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The internet has been enthralled by a decades-old clip that captured the extraordinary conditions in which an Aussie man won the lottery.
It was not his first lottery win but his second, and happened while a TV crew filmed him and a rapt audience watched on.
In the late 1990s, Australian man Bill Morgan experienced a string of bad luck.
He was injured in a car crash while working as a truck driver and developed a heart condition. Then, he suffered an allergic reaction to the drug used to treat the condition and, ultimately, had a heart attack.
Mr Morgan was clinically dead for 14 minutes and, after being revived by medics, was in a coma.
Incredibly, days later, Mr Morgan not only woke up but proceeded to make a full recovery.
“When I was lying in hospital, I thought, gee, I mightn’t survive this. I’m only 37 and, at 37, I’ve got so much to look forward to,” he told reporters at the time.
And he was right. Within a year of the coma, Mr Morgan was engaged to his future wife, had scored a new job and won a $30,000 Toyota Corolla in the lottery.
News outlets picked up the Aussie’s story as a heartwarming tale of shifting luck — and what happened next was even more remarkable.
When Mr Morgan was asked by a local TV station to re-enact his story, he scored another lottery win right in front of the cameras.
“I just won $250,000. I’m not joking,” he said in disbelief after scratching the ticket.
“I think I’ll have another heart attack.”
The incredible footage, which still circulates online decades later, shows Mr Morgan collapsing against a shelf after realising he’d won.
Staff in the newsagency popped a bottle of champagne to celebrate and Mr Morgan called his fiancée to break the good news.
The couple bought a house with some of the winnings and invested the rest.
In 2020, Mr Morgan was tracked down as a 59-year-old, still living in Melbourne with his wife.
He reflected on his two wins, saying it was an “incredible time”.
“Twelve months before I had the win, my heart stopped and my life was over for 14 minutes and 38 seconds,” he told the Daily Mail.
“Every week, I [bought] my Tattslotto and a $5 scratchie — I still do it now actually. So I buy this Scratchie I said out loud ‘I think I’ve won a car’ and sure enough I had.
“It wasn’t that big of a deal to me until the newspapers and TV stations got wind of it. They thought it was a good luck story, so that’s how it all started.”
Mr Morgan revealed reporters from the TV station thought he was joking when he first announced his second win.
“I said, ‘I’m not joking’ and all of a sudden it hit me like a ton of bricks. I thought I was going to have another heart attack there and then,” he admitted.
Though a combination of heart problems and arthritis had taken its toll, Mr Morgan said he still felt like a lucky man.
“I’m either on the highest of highs, or the lowest of lows,” he said.
“I’ve had a bonus of 22 years and that’s the way you have to live your life.
“Every day I get up and put on my shoes, and even if I’m not real well I have a shuffle down the road and smell the roses, look at the sun and think about how lucky I am.
“I won $250,000. The house I live in, I own. I’ve got a nice enough car that I own. Sure, I had to retire because the heart got too much and I’m riddled with arthritis, but it was all for the best.”
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