László Andraschek, an unemployed and in dept Hungarian homeless man, spent the last few coins he had on a lottery ticket last September when Lady Luck smiled on him. He became one of Hungary’s biggest lottery winners by winning about £1.7m lottery jackpot. With the money Andraschek plans to set up foundation for addicts and women abused by their husbands.
The win would have gone unnoticed if László hadn’t made a donation to a hostel for the homeless this month. According to his words, he bought the ticket at a railway station on his way to Budapest where he was planning to take part in a workshop for recovering alcoholics.
“I only picked six numbers when the shop assistant reminded me that I need seven numbers. I told her to mark number 24. It doesn’t matter anyway,” he said. However, after the lottery draw he was proven wrong and now he plans to use the money to establish a foundation for addicts and abused women.
László is 55 years-old and resides in Gyor, north-west Hungary. The first thing he did after the big win was to repay his debts and then he went to a car dealer. Because neither he nor his wife knows how to drive, he gave the car to his children. Afterwards the lucky Hungarian bought flats for his children, paid off some debts of his relatives and now he plans to travel to Italy.
He also plans to invest his money cautiously. “I know I can afford a big TV, but it doesn’t mean that I will buy three simply because I have a lot of money,” he added. Andraschek had been struggling with alcoholism for about five years, but he is now clean and has “no need to return.”