26 April 2017

$300,000 winning Strike ticket claimed after almost two months

It may have taken almost two months, but the winner of a $300,000 Strike Four prize bought in Tuakau last month has finally claimed their prize.

Despite knowing that the store she bought her ticket at had sold a major Strike prize, the winner was in no hurry to check the ticket she had tucked away at home.

“I went into the store later that week to pick up my usual tickets and the man at the counter mentioned that they’d sold a big winner,” said the winner.

“I kind of just went ‘oh yeah’ and made a mental note to check my ticket at some point, but wasn’t really in a hurry – you never really think it will be you, do you?”

Every now and again over the coming weeks the winner thought about checking her ticket, but it always slipped her mind.

“When I was having a hard day at work I’d think ‘I should check that Strike ticket tonight’, but the thought was always gone by the time I was home,” the winner said.

It wasn’t until last weekend that she got around to checking the ticket – and finally realised just how much that little yellow slip of paper was worth.

“I was pottering around at home and everything kind of aligned – I remembered about the prize, found my ticket and checked it through the Lotto NZ App. When ‘major prize winner’ popped up on the screen I couldn’t believe my eyes – I just burst into tears,” said the winner.

“My husband was out when I checked the ticket, so as soon as he stepped through the door I thrust my phone and the ticket over to him and said ‘you won’t believe it – check this.’”

“I didn’t know what was going on, so just scanned the ticket – and it said we’d won a major prize. My mind went blank, I didn’t know what to think,” laughed the winner’s husband.

Having sat on the winning ticket for seven weeks, the couple decided a few more days wouldn’t hurt so they tucked the winning ticket away for safe keeping before heading to Lotto NZ’s Auckland head office to claim their prize a few days later.

“It was such a relief handing the ticket over and getting everything confirmed. I’ve got to be honest – we haven’t had much sleep since we found out we’d won,” said the winner.

With the winnings now safely in their bank account, the couple are looking forward to deciding what to do with their prize.

“We haven’t thought too much about it yet, but I think I’ll definitely get a new car. There’s plenty of time to work things out though – for now we’ll just head home and celebrate with a bottle of champagne,” said the winner.

The winning ticket was sold at Tuakau Food Market in Tuakau for the draw on Wednesday 8 March.

ENDS

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