The 59-year-old man was on his way home from a holiday visiting friends in Russell Island in Queensland when he decided to stop over in the NSW north coast town to visit his sister on Sunday.

A regular Keno player, he dropped in to the Coffs Harbour Ex-Services Club while there to play a few games.

According to club duty manager, Karen Hacking, the man was sitting out on the club's deck and missed the moment when all 10 of his numbers came up on screen.

When he went to have his tickets checked, he initially thought he'd won just under $2000.

"When the supervisor pressed the buttons and I saw the figure, I thought 'you beauty, I've won $1,983','' the man said. "I never even considered it could be $1,983,000."

The father of four and grandfather of one told Keno NSW he works as an armoured guard and is more accustomed to protecting large amounts of money.

"I've always been around money but never in a million years thought that I'd have quite this much of my own," he said.

Keen to get home to share the win with his family, the man said he would splash out on Christmas gifts for his children and take a trip to Tasmania to visit relatives, but would then probably invest the rest of the winnings and may buy more land.