**A couple who won Israel’s biggest-ever lottery prize have claimed the $20m (£13m) payout after a four-month delay.**The pair had been holding the lucky ticket, which had been in a pile of papers and old lottery forms at their home, the Associated Press reports.
They finally noticed the ticket and when they double-checked the numbers they found it was a winner.
The couple were presented with their prize at a news conference, wearing masks to conceal their identities.
The prize is subject to a 25% tax in Israel, the lottery agency was quoted as saying by AP.
‘Pretty shocked’
“This win is thanks to my wife, who pushed me to go check the tickets because otherwise I wouldn’t have found it,” the man said.
After establishing they had a winning ticket, the pair made a late-night visit to a shop shortly before closing time, to see how large the prize would be.
A silence fell over the store as they began counting the number of zeros in the winning payout with the sales assistant, the man told AP.
“How much did we win, for God’s sake?” he said he remembered thinking.
“Everyone there was pretty shocked,” he added.
Israel often conceals the identities of lottery winners to protect their privacy. The couple wore red masks with the lottery agency’s logo at the news conference. The woman also wore a wide-brimmed black sun hat.
The win would not change their lives, the man told Israeli business daily Globes Online.
“Money is important and gives us peace of mind for our children’s future. I can now realise my dream and study astronomy,” he said.This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.