A Northland man has discovered the Lotto ticket he had been carrying in his wallet for a week was a $1 million winner.
The man, who wishes to remain anonymous, brought the ticket from a Whangārei store.
"I stashed it away in my wallet, and completely forgot about it,” he said.
“A week later, I remembered that I had a ticket to check, so popped instore to use the Lotto self-check machine."
"When the machine played the winning music and said, ‘congrats, major prize’ I was a bit surprised!”
The man later went home to his wife to match up the draw results on MyLotto.
"My wife kept saying, ‘you’re kidding!’ – we were both in complete disbelief that we were holding a winning Lotto ticket.”
The couple claimed the prize early the next day at Lotto’s Head office in Auckland.
“My wife and I are so happy, and we’re excited to be able to set ourselves up for the future.
"We are also looking forward to being able to support some organisations that are close to our hearts,” said the man.
The winning Lotto First Division ticket was sold at Meadow Park in Tikipunga in Whangārei.
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