One Hamilton man has won big lottery prizes twice in two years and experts say the odds are about the same as being struck by lightning three times in a lifetime.
The winner, who wishes to remain anonymous, won a $500,000 Lotto First Division prize a few weeks ago on a Bonus Ticket, less than 18 months after winning big on an Instant Kiwi ticket.
The Instant Kiwi prize was a $50,000 prize each year for four years.
The odds of winning the top prize on the $5 Live the Life Instant Kiwi ticket are one in 326,000 while the odds of winning Lotto First Division are only one in 3.8 million.
The regular player had been buying tickets for a few years. When he saw he'd won, he didn't expect a lot of money due to such small chances of winning big twice.
"I thought it was pretty good, but didn't really think too much of it to be honest."
The man carried on with his week until the following week when he handed over his tickets to be checked.
"That's when they scanned my Bonus Ticket, looked at me and said 'congratulations you've won!' and I knew straight away that it must be a big prize."
The player used the first winnings to help his kids and will use some of his recent winnings to do the same, but the winner is at a loss with what to do with the remaining money.
He described his Instant Kiwi win as "a gift that keeps on giving which makes it extra special."
"I just can't believe my luck at winning two top prizes in a row, I feel like I have a bit of a golden touch at the moment.
"Who knows, maybe my third time will be the charm and I'll win Powerball next," joked the winner.
The winning Lotto ticket was sold at Take Note Dinsdale in Hamilton for the July 21 draw.
