He said he quickly grabbed a paper, checked his numbers and crossed out each one by hand.
He said he celebrated with a small party with close family.
“We had champagne and a home-cooked dinner to mark the beginning of something new.”
The winner said he was excited to enjoy life a little more and take their time making decisions.
“Even though it hasn’t sunk in yet, this is a great moment in my life, and I’m very grateful for it.”
Second major Lotto win in Otago in a week
The man became the second person in Otago to become a multi-millionaire in a week after a Dunedin couple walked away with $5.5 million.
The Dunedin winners – who have chosen not to be named – had heard that a local resident had scored the massive prize but presumed it wasn’t them, believing they had bought the winning ticket elsewhere.
“I said to my partner, ‘ahh someone’s won, but it’s not us because we didn’t get our ticket from there this week’, – for some reason I was sure I’d bought it from a different shop,” the Dunedin woman said.
She eventually checked her ticket while shopping for groceries. When it said she was a Division One Winner, the woman handed her ticket over to the operator.
“I asked how much I’d won – she just looked at me and said, ‘it’s a big one’, and turned the ticket to show me the amount,” the woman explained.
“I was really shocked – I couldn’t believe it!”
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