New Lotto millionaire keeps his secret

A weekend away at a fancy resort is on the cards for Papamoa's newest millionaire.

The middle-aged Papamoa man, who bought the ticket at Papamoa Pak'nSave, only found out he had won last Saturday's $2 million Lotto draw when he checked his ticket on Wednesday afternoon.

"I still had a few jobs left to do before finishing up for the day, so I just folded up the ticket, put it in my wallet and got back to work," laughed the winner, who wished to remain anonymous.

Despite hearing about the win on Monday and talking to his workmates about the multi-million-dollar prize, it took the winner a few days to get around to checking his ticket.

"I was chatting to the guys at work about how good it would feel to win the big one that morning and couldn't shake the feeling that I should check my ticket," he said.

"But you know how things get when you're at work - I was so busy that I soon forgot all about it."

It wasn't until the winner passed a local Lotto store while running errands for work that he remembered to check the ticket he had tucked in his pocket.

"I checked it on the self-checker and saw 'major prize winner' flash up."

After finishing work for the day, the winner headed home and checked his winning ticket online, just to make sure he really was the big winner.

"After double-checking that all the numbers matched up, it really hit me that I was the winner. So I jumped in the car and headed to my local Lotto shop to claim the prize."

With the $2 million prize now safely in his bank account, the winner is beginning to think about what he's going to do with his newfound fortune.

"I've barely slept a wink since I realised I'd won, so all I really want right now is a good night's sleep," he said.

"I haven't really thought about how I'm going to spend it yet - I'm still coming to grips with the fact I've won.

"But I might treat myself to a weekend away at a fancy resort a little further down the track, that's something I've never done."

He had not told anyone about his big win but said keeping such a big secret had been "pretty easy".

"I'm still going to work and do the same things every day, but it will definitely make life a little easier. I'm very lucky," he said.