Taihape man wins $500,000 in Lotto first division draw

Taihape man wins big with $500,000 Lotto prize. Photo / Lotto NZ

A Taihape man was one of two players to win $500,000 in last Wednesday’s Lotto first division draw.

The ticket for the May 7 draw was sold at QuickStop Taihape where the owner Valakesh Patel said they had never sold a ticket with such a large prize.

“It’s the first time we sold a ticket with that big of a prize, half a million, so even me and my staff are really excited,” he said.

The other winner, based in Otago, bought their winning ticket on MyLotto.

Patel said the Taihape man was made aware on a return visit that a winning ticket had been sold at the QuickStop store.

“He was really happy,” Patel said.

“He wasn’t actually aware of anything but then he came into the store and one of our staff members told him that we had sold a big winning ticket last Wednesday so he just went home and checked his ticket.”

The winner had chosen to stay anonymous and would carry on working as normal despite the significant win, Patel said.

Olivia Reid is a multimedia journalist based in Whanganui.