$410,000 Lotto win 'pleasant surprise'

A Dunedin man was "pleasantly surprised" to find he had won $410,001 when he checked his Bullseye lottery ticket, two weeks after he purchased it with $4 in loose change from the Alexandra New World Lotto Kiosk.

The man, who wishes to remain anonymous, had forgotten to check his ticket until his wife read a story in the paper about a big unclaimed prize that was sold in Alexandra.

"I went to a local Dunedin store to check the tickets and first thought I had only won $41. The retailer had to tell me it wasn't $41, it was $410,001 - it was a pleasant surprise.

"It is hard to believe that I was sitting on a gold mine all this time," he said.

The winner plans to take some time to think about how to spend the money, but one investment is already planned.

"We are going to finally get double glazing for our house - we get cold winters in Dunedin so this win will help us to keep warm," he said.

The Bullseye Must Be Won draw was triggered on April 23 because the cash prize had reached the threshold of $400,000. No one won first division so the jackpot prize went to the next highest division winners.

- NZPA