Half-million winning ticket left forgotten in handbag

Image / Rod Emmerson

An Auckland woman found her pot of gold not at the end of a rainbow, but in the bottom of her handbag.

An old Lotto ticket, that had been left in that handbag for over six weeks, turned out to be a first division winner worth $500,000.

"I'm still in shock," said the woman, who wished to remain anonymous.

"The ticket had been floating around in my handbag ... and I more or less forgot about it."

She described herself as "not a lucky person" and was not expecting anything when she checked the ticket at a shop over the weekend.

"I just stood there and looked blank, my brain turned to mush, while my friend, who's more of an extrovert, was crying and hugging everyone."

Yesterday, the woman told the Herald she would be spending part of her winnings on a new Volkswagen Golf GTI and a dream holiday.

"My car is 20 years old so anything is better than that," she said.

"For a dream holiday, I would say Samoa ... I grew up with lots of Samoans and worked with some too, so it's somewhere I'm keen to visit."

She was also planning dinner and other holiday treats for her family and friends, and to pay off her mortgage. "It has definitely given me options and a leg up," she said.

The ticket was bought at the Unsworth Heights Superette on the North Shore.

The winner said she buys Lotto about once a month, and considers it "like a donation".

"If I don't win anything from a ticket I think, 'oh well, Lotto uses the proceeds to give to charities and the like, so I'm happy to contribute to that'."