Whanganui’s Castlecliff Four Square owner ‘very happy’ double Lotto winners sold by his store

A Whanganui Four Square store owner says selling two winning Lotto tickets at his Castlecliff store “made his day”.

The first ticket holder won $1 million in Lotto Division 1 which was the largest win in Saturday’s draw. A Strike Four ticket had the first four numbers drawn in the correct order, resulting in a win of $600,000.

Castlecliff Four Square owner Vivek Bangia said this was the biggest Lotto win he had seen in his 15 years of owning the store.

“I got up in the morning and I saw that someone had tagged me in a Facebook post and it made me very happy.

“Having both of them in one draw was a very rare thing - that doesn’t seem to happen at a lot of places.”

The ticket holder for the $600,000 win had claimed their prize, but the $1m was still unclaimed.

There were a lot of regulars who bought their tickets at the Castlecliff store, Bangia said.

Having two winning tickets in one go was not something Bangia had expected: “It’s a really good feeling.”

“We just hope they can use the money wisely and nicely, and that it can make a big difference to their lives.”

Castlecliff had changed a lot in the past 15 years, he said.

“When I first came here people used to say, ‘Oh Castlecliff, no don’t go there’ and that I’d made a mistake moving here.

“But the community stands by you and things have changed; you can see that people are a little happier.”

Although the cost of living was still hurting people, the Castlecliff community was resilient, he said.

“I see one guy struggling and the next guy is more than happy to pay for his bill.

“They become part of your family; you see the kids grow up and then they become your customers.”

The $30m Lotto Powerball jackpot has rolled over to $33m - the largest jackpot of 2024 so far - to be drawn on Wednesday.

Eva de Jong is a reporter for the Whanganui Chronicle covering health stories and general news. She began as a reporter in 2023.