Lotto winner took two months to realise he’d won $1 million

A Ruapehu man went two months unaware he had won $1 million in Lotto. Photo / mbphoto.co.nz

One lotto player from Ruapehu went two months unaware he had won $1 million until Lotto NZ phoned him and delivered the good news.

“They asked if I had checked my online tickets recently – to be honest, I was a bit confused why they were calling me.

“After the call, I began to think ‘surely they wouldn’t call me unless I’d won a prize – and they wouldn’t bother if it was only a few hundred dollars.’”

The man bought his winning ticket on MyLotto in September. It was the last time he logged onto his account until last week.

“I don’t usually use MyLotto, so I completely forgot that I had a ticket on there. I probably wouldn’t have checked it till the next time I left it too late to get to the shop,” he said.

“I usually buy my ticket from my local store – I like to support them, but that night I had left it too late to get there, so I quickly logged in and bought my ticket online.”

The man had arrived home from a long day when he got the call from Lotto NZ, prompting him to further delay checking his ticket and claiming his winnings until the following morning.

“I logged into my account and the virtual draw started to play … one number circled, then two, three, four, and before I knew it the winning music played, and my ticket had a rather large figure at the top of it.

A Ruapehu man usually doesn't use MyLotto, so was unaware he had won $1 million until getting a phone call two months later. Photo / Supplied

“I had to refocus my glasses,” he said.

“I read the number as $1 million, and my heart skipped a beat – I was absolutely ecstatic!”

He called Lotto NZ back to confirm it was correct.

“I don’t think I really believed it, so I called the woman I had spoken to the day before. When she answered I told her who I was, and she laughed and said ‘ahh yes, I’ve been waiting for you to call, how are you feeling?’ – that’s when I knew it was real.”

Now his win is claimed and safely in his bank account. The man schemed how to tell his partner the good news.

“I don’t know how I’ll tell her yet – but I’m sure I’ll find the perfect moment,” he said.

“She’s been working incredibly hard, so I think I’m going to whisk her away to Taupō for a nice weekend away and some spa treatments.”

The man is planning to use his winnings to travel overseas and buy some new toys.

Lotto NZ’s corporate communications manager Sarah McCormack said, “we want our winners to experience the thrill of checking their ticket and finding out they are winners themselves – but we also want to make sure they claim their prize!

“So once two months had gone by without our winner claiming, we thought it was time to get in contact – and what better time to find out you’re a millionaire than with Christmas just around the corner.”