The woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, said the article prompted her to check old tickets she had saved in a drawer.
“That’s when I noticed one I hadn’t checked … and it was from the New Year’s Day draw," she said.
“If I hadn’t read the article, it would still be unclaimed because I didn’t know I had an unchecked ticket.”
The couple usually check their tickets manually and save a few to check in store, but this winning ticket was missed.
“I still didn’t want to believe I was holding on to the winning ticket, so I didn’t get my hopes up,” the woman said.
She checked her numbers online against the New Year’s Day draw and they clearly lined up.
“I saw number 8, and then it was like all of the other numbers just lit up. It was so obvious,” she said.
The winning $500,000 Lotto ticket was sold at Fresh Choice Supermarket in Pāpāmoa. Photo / Mead Norton“That’s when I scrolled down and saw the amount, it was amazing.
“My husband was out and I didn’t want to tell him over the phone, so I mowed the lawn to keep busy ‘til he got home!”
The woman showed her stunned husband the ticket when he returned home.
“It was a struggle to sleep – we kept thinking ‘What happens if we lose the ticket, or someone breaks in and steals it’," he said.
“So we popped it inside a book for safekeeping until we could claim it.”
The couple went out to lunch to celebrate their prize.
“We never in a million years thought we would win a big prize like this, and we are so grateful,” the woman said.
“We also want to thank the wonderful staff at Fresh Choice Pāpāmoa – they are always so lovely in the store."
Lotto NZ’s Head of Corporate Communications, Will Hine, said they always like to unite winners with their prize as soon as possible,
“[We] are thankful to the media for getting the word out so quickly,” he said.
One Aucklander is $23.3 million richer after winning last night’s Powerball draw.
The prize was made up of $23m from Powerball and $333,333 from a split First Division prize.
