MICRONESIA – An anonymous Australian man has won his own remote Pacific island resort in a raffle after shelling out just US$49 for the winning ticket to claim the paradise property.

The man, identified only as Joshua from New South Wales, won the 16-room Micronesian resort in a draw organised by the Australian owners, who were looking to sell the lodge and its lease after setting it up two decades ago.

A whopping 75,485 tickets were sold to people in about 150 countries in the historic raffle.

Joshua bought just three tickets.

Ahead of the draw, co-owner Doug Beitz said he was hoping the winner would be “someone who likes warm weather, likes meeting new people from around the world, is adventurous”.

A video posted on Facebook revealed the winning number, drawn on Tuesday evening by a computer, to be ticket 44,980.

The winner’s identity was not immediately revealed until news of winning the Kosrae Nautilus Resort on the Micronesian island of Kosrae, which lies west of Hawaii and north of the Solomon Islands, had sunk in.

Beitz’s efforts to reach the new owner by phone and inform him of his life-changing win took a while but they eventually tracked the lucky winner down and gave him the good news.

“His name is Joshua and he’s from Woolongong,” Beitz said.

Joshua will take ownership of a resort, which is debt-free, fully staffed, running a profitable accommodation complex and dive operation with more than 20 years left on its lease.

The island is popular with divers, surfers and snorkellers.

Doug and his wife, who built the resort in 1994, have lived in Micronesia for more than two decades but said they felt it was time to return to Australia.

They were going to sell the property in the traditional way until one of their sons came up with the idea of the raffle.

“We will do financially well out of it,” Beitz said ahead of the draw, for which tens of thousands of tickets were sold around the world.

If nothing else, it afforded some people an opportunity to dream of life on a tropical paradise.

In his first statement to the media, an “overwhelmed” Joshua told news.com.au he took a punt in the raffle after reading about it online during his lunch break.

“What started as a simple click of a news article during my lunch break that piqued my interest has resulted in a life-changing experience that I could only dream of,” he said.

“I would like to thank Doug and Sally and the whole Beitz family for providing this amazing opportunity and am looking forward to cutting the red tape, making a trip to the resort to see what paradise looks like and to experience all that the resort has to offer.”

Doug and Sally will spend the next few weeks handing over the business to Josh and getting him acquainted with Kosrae, an island popular for surfing and snorkelling about 3800 kilometres from Brisbane.

Joshua said: “I look forward to working with Doug, his family and the amazing staff to learn about the ins and outs of the business and to continue its success long into the future.”

Joshua can opt to run the resort himself or appoint a manager to run it on his behalf.

The Beitz family indicated they were walking away with about $AU4.1 million from raffle ticket sales.

“It has absolutely been worth it,” Doug told news.com.au.

“We’ve had several big family dinners where we’ve sat down and talked about how wonderful the whole thing has been for us as a family.

“It’s brought us together and taught us so much about ourselves, and we can see in each other how the process has helped us grow and become better at things we didn’t think we could do. And that’s without even talking about the money.

“We’ve been getting emails from people all around the world thanking us for giving them a dream and something to look forward to. One lady who just emailed said she didn’t even care if the raffle was drawn – she was just happy to have something to look forward to.

“Now we are focusing on the next chapter of our lives and where we go from here,” Doug added, saying Sally was planning to write a book about life on Kosrae.

Kosrae is in the Federated States of Micronesia and accessible by flight from Hawai‘i and Guam.

The Beitz’s, who confessed to having no prior experience in the hospitality industry, moved to the island in 22 years ago.

Their four sons were raised on Kosrae, attending a local school and exploring the island’s lush jungles, ancient ruins and World War II-era relics, as well as caves and coral reefs.

The couple plan to return to Australia where their family is now based, although they said saying goodbye to their home of 22 years would be difficult.

“I’ve been talking to the governor of the island and he’s been ecstatic with the raffle and also thanked us for being part of the community all these years,” Doug said.

“We’d like to think we will be back at regular intervals. All our kids are already much talking about going back for some surfing.”

Previously, Doug said they opted for the unique sale hoping the businesses wouldn’t be exclusively available to multi-million developers.

“We look at ourselves as everyday people – we weren’t highly educated people when we came here, just average, basic people – and we think, with the raffle, we can hopefully leave the island in the hands of someone who’s not a millionaire, but in the hands of someone who’s just like us.” - PNC sources