Small fortune from Sunday drive

August 11, 2002

Small fortune from Sunday drive

A weekend drive to Auckland to attend a family christening has led to a different sort of baptism for a Hamilton engineer. He has won his first ever big cash prize in the Kachingo! rewards programme.

The 32 year old, who prefers to be known only as David, has claimed the $100,000 Kachingo! first prize issued on Sunday July 21 by BP Connect Bombay on Auckland's southern motorway.

David found out about his win 12 days after the draw when he checked his tickets on the Kachingo! Internet site.

"It's easy and convenient to check tickets on the web site," he says. "I keep mine in my wallet and check the numbers online every few weeks.

"I had two to check this particular week and the first was a 'sorry not this time' but the second one was the winner. I've never won anything like this before."

David delved further in to the Kachingo! site and realised his luck had delivered a small fortune. He remembered exactly when he'd got the ticket, but had missed publicity about the win.

"I was running low on petrol on my way to Auckland and also I was a bit early for the christening," David says. "So I thought I'd stop at the service centre to fill up and pick up a Sunday paper to while away some time."

For the price of the paper, a small bottle of orange-lime soft drink and $32.33 worth of premium grade petrol - total amount $35.43 - David now has $100,000 in the bank.

The funds will be used to complete the renovation of his Hamilton home and for a holiday. "I was planning on going to Rotorua or maybe Fiji but those plans are currently under review," David says with a smile.

It is the second big prize issued by BP Connect Bombay. The service station issued a $1,000 winning ticket on July 7.

BP spokesperson Jane Diver says it's a great result for BP to have another big winner come forward.

"One of our Auckland customers won $250,000 in a January draw and we've had lots of $1,000, $20 and $5 winners but it's great to score a big one again.

"We're also waiting to hear from a BP shopper somewhere in Dunedin who's hanging on to a first prize Kachingo! ticket worth $100,000.

"Here at BP we've now issued tickets to the value of more than $1m since October last year. It just goes to show how important it is for people to keep checking their tickets - anyone can win, even by spending as little as $35."

Kachingo! spokesperson Mary Vance says every week more than 150,000 New Zealanders check their Kachingo! tickets online.

"Like David they find it a convenient way to see if they've won a prize and check out how much they've won."

About Kachingo!

Kachingo! is a customer rewards programme invented in New Zealand. It is the only one to give shoppers cash rewards just for shopping at any store within the Kachingo! village of partners. The village consists of BP, Super Liquor and Woolworths, Big Fresh and Price Chopper supermarkets. Since October 2001, Kachingo! winners have claimed prizes worth more than $3.8 million from more than 53,700 winning game lines.

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