A Hawke's Bay Lotto winner oblivious to their $5 million winnings wasn't alone in 2020, with seven big winners waiting at least a week to come forward. Photo / File
A Hawke's Bay Lotto winner oblivious to their $5 million winnings wasn't alone in 2020, with seven big winners waiting at least a week to come forward. Photo / File
A Hawke's Bay Lotto winner oblivious to their $5 million winnings wasn't alone in 2020, with many unaware of their newfound fortunes.
Last year saw 62 Kiwis become Lotto millionaires and while most claimed their winnings right away, Lotto NZ head of communications Marie Winfield said 2020 was the year of the "missing millionaire".
Seven winners waited at least a week to come forward, with most unaware they'd become a multi-millionaire.
Winfield said those with significant winnings typically claim it within 24 hours.
"What was really unique about 2020 is that we had to try and track a couple of winners down," she said. "Funnily enough most of them completely forgot they had even bought a ticket, or simply didn't entertain the fact that they could have won.
"Fortunately, we found them, or they eventually came forward on their own, and they now have a lot more zeros in their bank balance."
In August last year, a Hawke's Bay player was one of 10 players around the country to win a share of Lotto's $50m jackpot draw.
The Napier winner, who eventually claimed their $5.02m, said she was completely oblivious that she had been carrying a winning ticket in her handbag for a week.
A Napier player was one of 10 players around the country to win a share of Lotto's $50m jackpot draw, after buying a ticket from Andrew Spence Pharmacy in Onekawa. Photo / File
The Napier winning ticket was purchased at Andrew Spence Pharmacy in Onekawa – the third-luckiest Lotto store in Hawke's Bay, after Unichem Stortford Lodge Pharmacy in Hastings and Napier Countdown.
The woman said when her daughter encouraged her to check the ticket, she didn't think she needed to bother.
"My daughter knows that I buy my tickets from the store that sold the winning one, but I just said 'dream on'," she said.
"It never occurred to me to check the ticket."
Winfield said there are no major prize claims outstanding in Hawke's Bay to date.
Among the other unaware winners, a Morrinsville man got the surprise of a lifetime in November after Lotto NZ approached him to say that they thought he'd won $5.5m.
The winner had no idea he'd been driving around with a multimillion-dollar winning ticket in his glovebox for nearly a month.
The employee who broke the news to the man said it was a memorable experience.
"It's not every day you get to approach someone on the street and tell them that we think they are a multi-millionaire," he said.
This year has been the biggest one yet for Lotto Powerball winners, with a total of $617m given away.
