Tri Nations win upstaged by news of Lotto draw

An All Blacks fan from the Waihi Beach area was delighted to be interrupted by a phone call from his wife in the middle of the Tri Nations rugby decider on Saturday - to say his Lotto numbers had come up.

The man, who wishes to remain anonymous, said he was watching the rugby at the pub, when his wife called to say he had better come home because they had six numbers on their Lotto ticket.

"I've been playing Lotto for 18 years using the same card with my own numbers and they finally came up, during the middle of a test match," he said.

The couple, who have several children, claimed their First Division $733,480 prize yesterday.

In Tauranga, another family were so anxious to confirm a suspected Lotto First Division win they were on the phone to their Lotto shop yesterday morning to get Dale Carsons of Maungatapu Stationers to specially open for them on a Sunday.

"I got a call at about 9am this morning asking me if I would know if my store had sold a Lotto First Division winner," he said.

"I said, yes, and then they asked if I had sold one for last night's draw. I'd just checked and found out we had, so I told them that.

"Then they said, 'We think it's us, can we come and check our ticket?"'

Kathy Laugesen from Whakatane gave her husband, Mark, the Father's Day present of his life after becoming the first person to spin and win $1 million on Lotto's Winning Wheel.

- NZPA