Man leaves $100K scratchy sitting on kitchen bench

A Tauranga man is $100,000 richer after rediscovering his winning Instant Kiwi ticket, which he had left on the kitchen bench.

The man, who bought the ticket while away on holiday, had the ticket for several days before he got around to scratching it.

"It kind of slipped my mind to be honest. After I bought it, I popped it in a bag for safe keeping," he said.

"I had no idea I was carrying around a piece of paper worth so much money!"

But even after scratching the Instant Kiwi ticket a few days later and revealing the massive prize, the winner was in no hurry to claim his winnings.

"When I saw what the prize was I immediately thought 'no, that's a mistake', so I called my partner over to double check. When she saw the same thing - well, we couldn't believe our eyes.

"We were sure we were checking the ticket wrong, so tried not to get too excited - I just placed the ticket on the kitchen bench, so we could check it at the shops the next day."

But the couple were infact winners and a visit to their local Lotto store soon confirmed the good news.

"Winning $100,000 is an unbelievable feeling! It's not every day you win a big prize so you have to enjoy it - we made sure to celebrate at home that evening with a couple of gin and tonics."

While the reality of the win is still sinking in, the winner already has an idea on how he'll spend some of his winnings.

"My partner and I have a holiday booked for later in the year - I think we'll be looking at an upgrade now!"

The winning Black Premium Instant Kiwi ticket was sold at Elgin Four Square in Gisborne.