Politeness pays off, it seems. An official for the national lottery said a father-of-three was next in a queue to buy a ticket when a woman rudely pushed in ahead of him.

He graciously let her go ahead, and in turn – he bought the winning ticket.

The winner is believed to be a Filipino in his sixties, living in the US, who was back in the Philippines visiting family.

He was not named as the lottery agency has a policy of keeping the names of winners secret, partly to protect them from kidnap attempts.

But the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) says he forgot to check the lottery numbers for a week and when he realized he had won, his response was gracious.

"When he won, he kept thinking… how sad for that woman. She could have won the big prize if she had just been patient," PCSO chair, Margie Juico told AFP.

When the draw was made on 29 November 2010, nobody had won the lottery since 15 May. The prize money had accumulated over 86 consecutive draws to become the country's biggest ever jackpot and millions of people bought tickets.

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