Canterbury’s Winning Streak – Three Millionaires In Four Days

In the last two live Lotto draws, three Cantabrians have become overnight millionaires, winning a combined $3.5 million.

The biggest win went to an Ashburton man who on Saturday night became the first ever person to win the $1.5 million jackpot in Lotto NZ’s Strike ‘Must Be Won’ draw.

The man, who wishes to remain anonymous, said he was “walking around in a daze,” after finding out he was $1.5 million richer…from a bonus ticket he’d won the draw before.

He was unaware the Strike jackpot had been won in Ashburton and only found out he held the winning ticket when checking it in store the next morning.

“It flashed up with First Division winner – but I didn’t know how much I’d won.”

The store owner took the man into the office before sharing the news with him.

“He said, ‘you’d better come with me’ and when we were in the office, he handed me a slip of paper and said, ‘there you go – you’ve just won 1.5 million dollars.’

“I was gobsmacked, I just stared at it and then I’m sure a few choice words slipped out,” he laughed.

The man plans to take some time to digest the news before deciding what he might do with his win.

“It’s life-changing for me, it’s going to make the future much easier. I’m not going to make any immediate plans though; life will just go on as normal.”

Lotto NZ’s first $1.5 million Must Be Won draw since the threshold changed in July was only three weeks ago, however Strike Four was not won and the jackpot rolled down to Strike Three, where it was shared between 219 players who each took home $7,299.

On the other side of the Rakaia river, a Christchurch woman also had a weekend to remember after winning $1 million with Lotto First Division on Saturday night.

The woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, also claimed her prize on Sunday after checking her ticket at home that morning with her daughter.

“I pulled up the results on MyLotto and checked off the numbers one by one. When I saw all six, I couldn’t believe it, it didn’t feel real.”

“I had to get my daughter to check it for me to make sure it was correct.”

The woman was looking forward to telling her other children later that day and said the win was going to benefit them all.

“What an amazing time to win – right before Christmas – it’s going to be extra special this year,” she said.

The two sizeable wins on Saturday rounded off a big week of Lotto wins across Canterbury.

Three days earlier, another lucky player from Christchurch scored themselves a sweet $1 million with Lotto First Division after buying their ticket for the Wednesday night draw at New Brighton Lotto & Discounter.

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