Lotto Weekend Hat-Trick For Wellington

1 October 2007

Lotto Weekend Hat-Trick For Wellington

This weekend was a Lotto hat-trick for Wellington with two First Division wins of $500,000 plus a Strike four prize of $249,070 won in the capital, says NZ Lotteries' Head of Communications Karen Jones.

The winning First Division tickets worth $500,000 each were sold at Wainuiomata Mall Lotto Shop in Wainuiomata and Whitcoulls Lambton Quay in Wellington and a Strike Four prize of $249,070 was sold at Pak'N'Save in Kilbirnie.

"What a great weekend for Wellington Lotto players with three huge sums of money won across the Lotto games," says Karen Jones.

The First Division prize won at Whitcoulls in Lambton Quay was claimed at Thorndon New World in Wellington. The winners, two Wellington sisters, and their supporters came into the NZ Lotteries' office in Wellington today to claim their winnings in person.

The sisters have been playing Lotto for many years, and were over the moon with their shared win. One sister phoned the other to say that their Lucky Dip had hit the big one - only to find that her sister was out to lunch with her brother and sister-in-law to celebrate their, much smaller, Lotto win! One sister plans a trip to Europe with family with some of her share of the winnings, whilst the other sister plans to put her funds in the bank for the future.

One sister immediately sent her daughters out shopping with her card to celebrate - "however I gave them a limit", she said.

The Strike Four prize was sold at Pak'N'Save Kilbirnie and was also claimed at the NZ Lotteries' Wellington office. The regular Strike players, who wish to remain anonymous, could not believe their luck and had to pinch themselves.

Before claiming their prize, the couple found they had 81 cents left in their bank account.

"We live from one week to the next, watching our pennies, and now we can do the things we have always wanted to do."

The lucky Strike winners, who were in a panic about their retirement funds, can now breathe a sigh of relief. The husband has decided, along with a new pair of glasses, he wants to purchase a new set of teeth. "It changes everything!" they said.

The remaining Wellington First Division $500,000 prize, sold at Wainuiomata Mall Lotto shop, has yet to be claimed.

ENDS

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