KEY POINTS:
A supermarket "checkout chick" has scooped $1.2 million in Lotto ... but plans to stay put in her job.
And Irene Carson, from Kaitangata, admitted yesterday she was giddy at the thought of unsuspecting customers being served by a millionaire.
The supermarket checkout worker says she wants to use the money to build her dream home, but apart from life being a bit easier, it isn't going to change much.
The job stays and so does her home town - "I love Kai, it's my town" - and even her Toyota Corona car will be kept and used as her white-baiting vehicle, although she will upgrade to a flasher car for her daily travels.
But the 51-year-old said she might talk to her boss about cutting down to four days week so she can fit in her role as sports medic for the Kaitangata B rugby team this winter.
"I'm single, a widow. If I was home alone, I would probably drive myself crazy. But I reckon I might cut back on a bit on the work, you know. I've got a lot more living to do, a lot more nice living."
Mrs Carson, who won $1,262,435 in Lotto's Easter draw, brought up her three children on the domestic purposes benefit but decided to "pay back" the taxpayer for their financial help over those years by joining the Order of St John and volunteering her services to sports groups.
She agreed to speak publicly because "everyone in Clutha knows anyway" and she hoped by being open now, all the fuss would soon die down.
But she admitted the big win had not yet sunk in.
"I think I'm still in shock, to be honest. It's a nice shock though."
Mrs Carson buys Lotto every week and has used the same numbers for 16 years with little success.
It took a friendly gesture from her son's partner in Auckland to make her Lotto dream come true.
She bought two Lucky Dip tickets from PaperPlus Sylvia Park and sent one to her mother in Christchurch and the other to Mrs Carson.
Last Friday, Mrs Carson took her Lotto tickets to be checked at the Balclutha New World outlet.
At first, she saw only the first four figures, and thought she had won $1200. It was not until the operator called the Lotteries Commission for verification that the size of her win began to dawn on her.
"There was just complete silence at my end of the phone and then I said to Diane [the operator] that it was a million dollars, a million dollars. She started shaking and she was just about crying. She asked me to come and sit down but I think she needed the seat more than I did."
Mrs Carson has also bought a ticket in Saturday's record $18 million Powerball draw.
- OTAGO DAILY TIMES
