Man wins an entire island resort with a $49 raffle ticket
An Australian man just purchased a remote Pacific island resort, complete with palm trees, sparkling water, and pristine white sand beachfront.
The total cost? $49.
Doug and Sally Beitz - owners of Kosrae Nautilis Resort on the island of Kosrae in Micronesia - recently decided to retire and sell their resort in an international raffle, open to anyone at least 21 years old. Each entry cost just $49.
Earlier today, the couple announced that, after processing 75,485 entrants, they'd drawn a winner: A man identified only as Joshua from New South Wales, Australia.
The Beitzes have run the resort since 1994, but felt they needed to move back to their native Australia in order to be closer to family.
"We feel like a new chapter in our lives is beginning, and we're ready to pass the baton to someone else," Doug Beitz told CNN. "We've had our time in the sun and enjoyed a career most people would never even dare dream about, but our current goal now is to become professional grandparents."
Here's where the 16-room resort is located.
And here's a glimpse of what the island of Kosrae looks like (spoiler: completely stunning).
Doug Beitz said that the inspiration behind the raffle was a desire to hand off the resort to someone who really wanted it - not just the highest bidder.
"We look at ourselves as everyday 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," he told news.com.au.
They've finally found that very lucky someone.