A Ruapehu man was oblivious to the fact he was sitting on a $1 million winning Lotto ticket for nearly two months, before receiving a life-changing phone call.
Lotto says the man bought a ticket online via MyLotto in mid-September this year.
After that he didn't log on again until being contacted by Lotto late last week.
"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, who wishes to remain anonymous said.
"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."
Upon realising the man was yet to claim his prize, Lotto staff gave him a call.
"I got a call from Lotto NZ, and they asked if I had checked my online tickets recently – to be honest I was a bit confused why they were calling me," the winner said.
"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."
Even after the phone call it wasn't until the next morning he remembered to check his ticket.
"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.
"I had to refocus my glasses," he laughed. "I read the number as $1 million, and my heart skipped a beat – I was absolutely ecstatic!"
The man was in disbelief and called Lotto back to confirm his good news.
“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."
The winner has come up with a plan to tell his partner the big news.
"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 – I don’t know how I’ll tell her yet – but I’m sure I’ll find the perfect moment."
Lotto said the man is planning to use his winnings to travel overseas and buy some new toys.
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