Million-dollar Lotto winner still 'buzzing'

The man who won $1 million in Lotto from a ticket bought at Gate Pa Superette says the win is still sinking in. File/Photo

A $1 million Lotto winner from Tauranga says his huge win is still sinking in.

The man, who preferred to remain anonymous, said he was a regular Lotto player who always bought his ticket at Gate Pa Superette, and he was keen to use his winnings to help out his friends and family.

"I had no idea that I had won when I went into the store, so it was a bit of a shock when they told me I had won $1 million," he said in a statement.

"It hasn't really sunk in yet. I haven't got past the buzz of winning. I am just going to stick it in the bank for now until I know what I want to do."

The win was also still sinking in for store owners Ravinder Singh-Cheema and his wife Pawandeep Kaur-Cheema, who only took over ownership of the store on July 25.

The Lotteries Commission said the Gate Pa Superette's $1 million Lotto win was the second biggest win for the region so far this year, the other big prize being a $7.1 million Powerball ticket sold at AJ's Lotto in February.

There have been nine First Division wins in Lotto, Powerball and Strike in Tauranga and the Western Bay of Plenty region so far this year, totalling $14.6 million.

And last year, there were nine in total for the full year, including two big Powerball wins, both sold at Greerton Lotto, worth a combined $14.6m in prizes.