Murupara Lotto win offering a glimmer of positivity to a community riddled with tragedy

A Lotto ticket worth over $333,000 was sold in Murupara on Saturday. Photo / File

Murupara is often dealt a raw deal with suffering, heartache and misfortune.

But Saturday provided a glimmer of positivity when one of three Lotto tickets worth $333,333 in Lotto's First Division was sold in the rural Bay of Plenty town.

The new Four Square Murupara owner Sanjay Unka said the big win could only do good after all the negative things that had happened to the town.

This was just the 12th week he and his wife, Sally, had owned the Four Square and he could not believe they hold sold a winner.

"It's massive eh," he said.

"It could boost a big family, set them forward or set them right and make life a lot more comfortable."

The small Bay of Plenty town of fewer than 2000 people has had its fair share of tragedy over the years, the most recent was after four of its men were killed in a crash on a forestry road last Monday.

Unka said there had been several tangi during the weekend and the town saw an influx of people who came to mourn their loved ones.

"It may not be a million dollars but that's a significant amount of money for anybody ... it's massive," he said.

Two months ago, a Westpac ATM was stolen by a stolen front-end loader.

Unka said this was a difficult time for the community as well as local businesses, and many people made the journey to Rotorua to get money out.

But even so, Unka said the community banded together to come up with preventive measures to stop this happening again.

And there was not a more deserving community for some positivity right now and he felt honoured to be a part of providing that happiness.

Many people have responded to news of the win on social media.

As well as hoping more people would make the journey to Murupara to try their luck for a ticket at the supermarket, Unka said the journey was equally worth it to try one of their famous Murupara sausages.

Anyone who bought their ticket from any of the winning stores should write their name on the back of the ticket and check it immediately at any Lotto outlet, online at mylotto.co.nz or through the Lotto NZ App.