There’s been a buzz in Patea this week as people wondered how it was possible for their local store to have sold four Lotto First Division prizes for the same draw.

Now the mystery is finally solved – a lucky Taranaki woman has come forward to claim all four of the prizes.

The woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, recently picked a few of her favourite lucky numbers and decided to play them on four lines of her ticket.

“The way I see it, if I win a small prize on one line, I win it multiple times and it covers the cost of my ticket,” said the woman.

Luck was on her side though and on Saturday night she won Lotto First Division, not once, but four times on the same ticket, scoring herself just over $570,000.

Her husband had gone to bed early that night and the woman had fallen asleep in the lounge.

“I fell asleep in front of the TV, which isn’t like me at all. I woke up at about 10pm and started to get ready for bed,” said the woman. “I suddenly thought I’d better just check my Lotto ticket first.”

Checking off the numbers on her ticket one by one, it took a while before the woman realised she’d matched all six numbers – on four lines of her ticket!

“I was still quite sleepy, so I didn’t understand what I was seeing at first.”

The woman quickly scribbled her name and phone number on the back of the ticket and called a family member to share the news. She asked her to sit down before telling her ‘I’ve won the Lotto...four times.’

The woman’s husband was still fast asleep, unaware that they were now over $500,000 richer.

“I didn’t want to wake him up, he would’ve got the fright of his life,” the woman laughed. “But eventually I did, and after that, we didn’t get any more sleep that night.”

The woman kept her ticket under her pillow while she and her husband lay awake thinking about their windfall.

“We’ve got everything we need, this is for our kids, our grandkids – it will set them up for the future and it feels so good to know that we can do that for them.”

“It will be nice to use some of the money to go on some family trips too – we’re looking forward to that,” said the woman.

The ticket was sold at Four Square Patea for the draw on Saturday 13 June 2020.

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