Media Release                                                                                 30 April 2009

Small Change For Lotto Winners

It’s the small things in life that have changed for an Invercargill couple who claimed their half a million dollar Lotto First Division prize recently.

The couple, who wish to remain anonymous, say they haven’t decided what they’re going to do with their winnings, but have already noticed some of the advantages to such a big win.

“The money is safely tucked up in the bank at the moment, but it feels so good being able to buy what you like and not worrying about using EFTPOS,” says the winner.

“When we realised we’d won, we went out to dinner and bought more expensive meals than we normally would – and the wine we had was much better than our usual too!”

The winning ticket was bought at Collingwood Foodcentre for the Saturday 18 April draw, and won a $509,937 share of the Lotto First Division prize – shared with an Auckland winner.

This isn’t the end of the winners’ Lotto playing days though. “We’ll carry on playing Lotto as we’ve been doing it since day one, and panic on the odd occasions we’ve missed buying a ticket – this win has definitely made up for it though!”

Collingwood Foodcentre owner operator Ian McDonald is no stranger to First Division winners – having sold 12 other winning Lotto First Division and three Strike First Division tickets.

“People always say how they wish they’d won, but I get to see some great looks on people’s faces when they’ve won, and that’s more than enough for me,” he says.

“We’re hoping to sell another First Division ticket this weekend too,” he adds.

Powerball has jackpotted to a massive $10.5 million for this Saturday’s draw.

Ends

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