$7.2m Silverdale Lotto prize still unclaimed

Nearly two weeks have gone by since a winning $7.2m Lotto ticket sold on the North Shore, but the lucky punter has yet to come forward.

The Powerball ticket was sold at Pak'nSave Silverdale on Auckland's North Shore, and drawn on Wednesday, September 12.

Lotto NZ head of corporate communications Kirsten Robinson said the winners still had plenty of time to come forward.

Winners have 12 months from the date of the draw to claim their prize.

"While it's unusual for a big winner to take so long to claim their prize, it's not unheard of.

"Sometimes people want to take a bit of time to let the win sink in or arrange time off work before they collect their winnings – or they may not even know yet that the little yellow ticket they have tucked away somewhere is worth $7.2 million."

In March 2017, a Gisborne couple knew right away their ticket had won $6.5m with Powerball, yet they waited nearly two weeks to claim their prize.

Wanting to make sure they had everything sorted before claiming their winnings, the winners chose to tuck their ticket away while they worked out what they wanted to do next.

"At first I thought I would put it back in the glove box, but then thought what a bugger it would be if the car got stolen," said the winner at the time.

"So I ended up putting it in a folder where we keep all our bills – we figured that even if the house got robbed, no one is ever going to want to steal that."

The winning Silverdale ticket could also be sitting forgotten in a handbag, wallet or drawer just waiting to be retrieved.

That was the case in August 2016, when a Hamilton man took six months to find a winning Lotto ticket that turned out to be worth $333,333.

When he heard a big prize from his local store was still unclaimed, he thought he better track down his ticket.

"I knew I had bought a ticket from that store, so when I heard that no one had claimed the prize yet, I thought there was a good chance I could be the winner," he said at the time.

"I had to go and collect something from work and decided I may as well clean out my desk drawer while I was there.

"I pulled out a handful of old receipts, then I saw my Lotto wallet buried beneath all the junk. I quickly grabbed it and when I opened it up, there was my missing Lotto ticket."

Any prizes that remain unclaimed after 12 months are returned to the Prize Reserve Fund for future prizes and promotions.

Big winners can also call Lotto NZ on 0800 695 6886 for information on how to claim their prize.