Unlucky Start To 2007 Results In $100,000 Windfall

Unlucky Start To 2007 Results In $100,000 Windfall For Hastings Man

A series of inconvenient events led a Hastings taxi driver and his wife to a $100,000 New Year's Day windfall last week when they scratched the top prize on an Instant Kiwi ticket, says NZ Lotteries Chief Executive, Todd McLeay.

The couple, who wish to remain anonymous, were off to a New Year's Eve party when they discovered that the man's intellectually disabled relative, a lover of soft drinks, had sneakily drunk the bottles of coke they were planning to take with them.

On the way out to the party the man and his wife made a quick stop in to Hastings City New World to purchase some more coke. With the change the man bought a $5 Instant Kiwi Stacks of Cash ticket.

"When I got back in the car neither of us had our glasses so we didn't bother to scratch it," said the winner, who is in his 50's.

The following day (New Year's Day), the couple returned to the scene of the party to collect their car, which they found they had left unlocked.

A friend of the couple had driven them out to the spot in one of their taxi vans and as he reversed to drive away he hit a tree, smashing the rear windscreen of the van.

"I was gutted," said the man. "I just couldn't believe it. I thought 'What a way to start the New Year, that's going to cost me two grand.'

"When I got home I was still annoyed and I remembered I had the ticket. My wife scratched the top line and left the prizes for me to scratch.* When I scratched off the bottom panel and saw the $100,000 I couldn't believe it," he said.

The couple immediately took their ticket down to Caltex Karamu Road where they made sure it was actually a winner.

"I didn't want to believe it until I saw it go through the machine," said the lucky winner.

The couple, who have eight children between them, have paid off their small mortgage and now plan to sit on the rest of their prize for a while as they think about what to spend it on.

"When I thought about it later I realised we'd left $100,000 sitting in an unlocked car overnight. We were very lucky," said the winner.

ENDS

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