A Christchurch woman couldn't believe her luck after discovering she was the city’s newest Lotto millionaire.
The woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, was enjoying a quiet weekend when she first got wind that she might be a
winner.
“On Sunday afternoon I thought I had better check my ticket, so I wrote the Lotto results down on a piece of paper. I
checked them against my ticket and noticed quite a few of the numbers were the same as the numbers on one line of my
ticket. I didn’t get too caught up in it, but thought, ‘hold on, there’s something going on here!” said the woman.
After asking her partner to take a look at her ticket and realising she had more than just a few of the winning numbers
on her ticket, the couple decided to head down to their local Lotto store to find out whether she really had won a
prize.
“We hopped in the car with the dog and off we went. When we arrived at the Lotto shop, I asked my partner if he wanted
to come in while I checked the ticket and he replied, ‘it’s okay, you just nip in and check it, and I’ll wait here’.
Neither of us imagined just how big the prize would be,” laughed the woman.
It wasn’t until the Lotto operator discreetly told her that she had won $1 million with Lotto First Division that the
winner realised just how lucky she had become.
“I couldn’t believe it – I never imagined I’d won First Division, let alone $1 million! I frantically waved out the shop
window to my partner to get him to come inside – he couldn’t believe it either. It was only when we all went out to the
back to fill in the Prize Claim Form that it really started to hit me,” said the woman.
With the news sinking in that she was a brand new Lotto millionaire, the woman picked up a bottle of champagne and she
celebrated with her partner that evening in true Kiwi style – with fish and chips for dinner.
“I only managed to sleep for about an hour that night – my mind was racing with ideas about what to do next. We truly
couldn’t be more thrilled,” said the woman.
With the prize now safely in her bank account, the woman is making looking forward to helping her children and
grandchildren with her winnings.
The winning ticket was sold at Countdown Ferrymead for the draw on Wednesday 2 June.