An Australian man has won himself a tropical island for the price of one €45 raffle ticket. The raffled off island of Kosrae in Micronesia, barely even visible on a map, is now owned by a man identified as Joshua.

The Kosrae Nautilus Resort was raffled for €45 (AUD66). Photo: micronesianraffle.com

And if that wasn't enough, the island (pop. 6,500) comes with ownership of a tropical holiday resort. The 16-room Kosrae Nautilus Resort has a scuba diving business and comes with a four-bedroom residence for the owner, five hire cars, a pick-up truck, two ten-seater vans and a resort restaurant.

The previous owners, Australian couple Doug and Sally Beitz, decided to sell their tropical paradise but didn’t want to hold a “really boring” auction. They decided to raffle off their island home, in the hope that they could change someone’s life.

Remote island of Kosrae in Micronesia. Photo: micronesianraffle.com

"We look at ourselves as everyday people - we weren't highly educated people when we came here, just average, basic people," Doug Beitz told news.com.au.

"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."

Joshua, the lucky winner, was one of the 50,000 people who participated in the raffle.

Kosrae is a tiny island in the Pacific Ocean popular with scuba divers and trekkers. Besides the resort, it also has an international airport, a thriving tourism industry and a volcano.