"I'll always remember the words 'provisional winner'."
David Renshaw says he saw that term flash up on a screen when he presented his Oz Lotto ticket at the Granville railway station newsagency, in Sydney's west, in September 1997.
Two decades later, he is suing the NSW Lotteries Corporation, claiming a shopkeeper at the newsagency threw out his ticket during a heated exchange, and that he is entitled to more than $3.3 million in winnings, plus interest.
"I questioned the attendant when I witnessed the words 'provisional winner'. He stated to me, 'No winner,' " Mr Renshaw told the NSW Supreme Court on Wednesday.
"I asked for my ticket to be returned. He said to me, 'No winner,' right in my face.
"I demanded it again. He said 'No f---ing winner.'
"I got pissed and he ran to the office and locked himself in."
The court heard the jackpot in the Oz Lotto 188 draw was $10 million split between three winners, two of whom have claimed their prizes.
The remaining $3.3 million, from a ticket purchased at the Greenfield Park newsagency, has not been claimed .
Mr Renshaw alleges the NSW Lotteries Corporation was negligent, and is responsible for one of its retailers refusing to return his ticket.
He also accuses it of misleading and deceptive conduct, in that its retailer should have taken "reasonable care" of the ticket.
NSW Lotteries Corporation denies the allegations, and argues that Mr Renshaw's claims should be struck out because they have been filed too late.
It also says none of its systems ever used the term "provisional winner".
Mr Renshaw believes he may be able to prove that he was affected by a disability for a significant period, which prevented him from filing a claim.
He told the court he was hit on the head by a pallet of bricks while working as a labourer in 2000, an accident that left him immobile in hospital for 16 months.
Mr Renshaw said it took him two years to learn to walk again, after which he endured a relationship breakdown and a failed business.
He said he told his "provisional winner" story to many people over the years, including NSW Lotteries.
When he told a friend the story over Christmas lunch in 2015, the friend Googled the term and found it may mean the winner of a Division 1 prize.
"I started to think about myself and my problems and when a friend mentioned a $60 million Powerball ... my recollection came back to me."
It is not the first time Oz Lotto draw 188 has been the subject of a court case.
In 2014, Justice Lucy McCallum dismissed Robert Clemett's case that he won the prize money, but lost the ticket.
That case heard about 50 people contacted the lotteries office after details of the unclaimed money were aired on a current affairs show in 2001.
Mr Renshaw's case will be in court again in July before Justice Michael Walton.
