Meet Peter Charleton – the man who won the lottery and gave all the money away in a single month.
In 2020, Peter Charleton, from Victoria, Australia, won a whopping $896,511.13 from TattsLotto. But instead of spending the cash carelessly as most fresh millionaires do, he decided to give it all away to his family, close friends, and strangers in need.
The 47-year-old man decided to purchase the lucky ticket inspired by an unusual reason. As per Unilad, he shared that one day last August he accidentally left his late uncle’s favorite pocket knife on top of his car, before beginning his hour-long journey home.
To Peter’s surprise, the knife was still on top of his car when he got home. Thrilled by the nearly miraculous situation, he bought three lottery tickets to test his luck once more.
After downloading the TattsLotto app, Charleton found out one of his tickets had won.
In an interview for 7’s My Big Story, the man said he couldn’t believe he had won nearly $1 million, so he deleted the app. Shortly after, he redownloaded it to make sure it was true. The same winning message greeted him from the blue screen, and he realized it was not just a dream or a bug in the app’s system.
Peter decided to tell only his family and close friends about winning the lottery. But after the money he had won was sitting in his bank, he resolved he didn’t want it all for himself, so he made a plan to give it away. He explained:
“I don’t feel comfortable keeping all this money to myself. And so I didn’t. I felt more comfortable knowing that I’d given it all away and done a few things for myself.”
Charleton kept enough money to pay off his mortgage and buy himself a second-hand car. The rest he gave away, asking his friends on Facebook for their bank details to send them some cash. In his words, he wanted to “get rid of it all before people realized [he’d] won it.”
Peter concluded:
“There’s such a pleasure in being kind and being able to help people. And if you’re in a position where you’ve got the money to do it, I think you’re mad if you don’t.”
