A man who “completely forgot” about entering Lotto was unaware for a week he was carrying around a $1 million winning ticket.
The golden ticket was sold at Meadow Park Store and Lotto in the Whangārei suburb of Tikipunga, for the draw on June 29.
The winner, who wanted to remain anonymous, said he had no idea a winning First Division ticket had been sold in the store.
“I grab a Lotto ticket every now and again and bought my ticket a day before the Wednesday night draw last week,” he said.
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“I stashed it away in my wallet and completely forgot about it.”
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The anonymous winner is looking forward to setting himself and his wife up for the future and supporting organisations close to their hearts. (File photo)
When he found the ticket and checked it in store a week later, the machine said he had won a major prize.
“Not knowing how much I had won, I decided to play it cool and keep a low profile, so I went up to the counter, purchased a Lotto ticket for the next draw and went straight home,” he said.
When he arrived home, the man told his wife what had happened and they checked the ticket against the online draw results.
“Sure enough, I had all the numbers on one row of my ticket. My wife kept saying, ‘you’re kidding!’ – we were both in complete disbelief that we were holding a winning Lotto ticket.”
After a restless night’s sleep, the man stashed his ticket back in his wallet and the couple headed south to claim the prize at Lotto’s head office in Auckland.
“I definitely made sure my wallet was safely in my pocket the whole way!”
After claiming his prize, the man said the good news was only just beginning to sink in.
He and his wife were looking forward to setting themselves up for the future and supporting organisations “close to our hearts”, he said.
Store owner Dharmesh Soma said the win created a lot of excitement in the store.
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Meadow Park Store and Lotto, in Tikipunga, must be lucky after selling its second First Division prize in a year, owner Dharmesh Soma says.
“I’ve been telling all my regulars to check their tickets and see if they were the winners,” he said.
“They were all excited and giving me positive comments.”
Soma said the winning ticket was the second First Division win in the store following a $500,000 win in September 2021.
“I’m quite proud that I made someone a millionaire,” he said.
With two First Division wins in less than a year, he believed the store was very lucky.
