Lottery winner issues warning after learning brutal lesson

Winning the lottery can be absolutely life changing – for better, or for worse.

Cashing a whole load of money could mean taking mega holidays or buying a new home or even quitting your job. But for some major lottery winners, it ‘ruined’ their lives.

And for this bloke, it taught him a brutal lesson.

Frank Kemmler is now warning others following his big Lotto win.

The Aussie widower was made up to bag a whopping $60,000 (£32,088), but it didn’t end up being so sweet.

Kemmler instantly rang his family, telling them to pack up their things to go on holiday when he realised he’d won on the Lotto.

He told A Current Affair: “It was certainly a nice feeling when I checked me numbers.”

However, the buzz was crushed after the man from Adelaide went out to fill some paperwork regarding his disability support pension where he was told it was ‘bye bye to the pension’.

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“[It] was a bit of a disillusionment. You think you win on the one hand, but they take it away with the other hand,” he said.

Kemmler’s GP appointments and medication was previously covered under his pension but after winning, he was forced to fork out the full price.

“The pension is not really my main worry, because I'm just trying to stop other people from falling into the same trap,' he explained.

“These people that are buying these [lottery] tickets, there's no warning anywhere...to say that you're going to lose your pension.

“If I'd known then what I know now, I would've given the win to my daughter and kept the pension for myself.”

The bloke is now warning fellow Aussies to be more cautious with playing the Lotto as they could end up in a similar situation as him.

Traceydee Photography/Getty Images

Kemmler reapplied for the pension but might have to wait up to six months before he gets back on the program again.

A services Australia spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia they will 'work directly with Mr. Kemmler to ensure he’s getting the support he is eligible for'.

Basically, what’s happened here is that over in Aus, those receiving disability pensions will become considered as income earners if they win the Lotto and have their prize money paid in monthly instalments.

And if the prize money is higher than the pension they receive, the ‘income’ would be too great to carry on getting the pension.

And Kemmler has now spent all of his.

Topics: Money, Australia

Jess Battison

Jess is an Entertainment Journalist with a love of all things pop culture. Her main interests include keeping up with the Twitter girlies, waiting for a new series of The Traitors and losing her voice at a Beyoncé concert. She graduated with a first in Journalism from City, University of London in 2021 and has previously worked at MyLondon.

@jessbattison_