Lotto Tickets Could Be Winning Wheel Winners

Christchurch, Glenfield, Invercargill, Mangere East And Palmerston North Lotto Tickets Could Be Winning Wheel Winners.

Five Lotto players are a trip to their Lotto shop away from coming to Wellington after Saturday night's Winning Wheel bonus draw, and a Te Aroha man has taken home a $500,000 cash prize, New Zealand Lotteries Commission (NZ Lotteries) Chief Executive Trevor Hall announced today.

"I'm just going to take it easy now! I'm going to enjoy myself," said ecstatic Te Aroha man Nick Farac who travelled to Wellington with his son, daughter and her fiancée for the draw.

Getting to Wellington to spin the $500,000 didn't come easy. Due to fog in Wellington, Mr Farac and his family were unable to fly in to Wellington airport on Friday as scheduled. After the flight from Hamilton was diverted to Palmerston North, Mr Farac bundled the family into a taxi to Wellington instead of the scheduled bus.

Hat Trick for Christchurch

This was the third week in a row a Christchurch ticket had the winning Winning Wheel serial number and two of those were sold by Countdown Church Corner - a first for a Lotto store since Lotto's Winning Wheel began. Two winners have claimed so far and are scheduled to appear on the 26 March Easter draw and the extra mid-week draw on 30 March.

This could be the first shot at the Winning Wheel for a Palmerston North player while the Invercargill winner is the second for the city, although the first ticket remains unclaimed.

Mr Hall says that since the Winning Wheel started on Saturday's live Lotto draw in August last year, 33 Lotto players from all over New Zealand have claimed their prize and spun and won a prize valued between $25,000 and $1 million. The four biggest winners have walked away with prizes of $500,000 cash or a $500,000 house and land package.

"We want to make sure all our winners come forward and claim their chance to win big on Winning Wheel," says Mr Hall.

Winners – who come to the Capital with a support person and get to stay at the luxury Duxton Hotel, have exhibition passes to Te Papa, a shopping trip with a stylist to choose clothes for their TV appearance and a lunch date with a Lotto Presenter - have said the trip to Wellington to spin the Winning Wheel has become a once-in-a-lifetime memory.

"Winning tickets are identified by the serial number which is located at the bottom right-hand corner of every Lotto ticket," says Mr Hall.

"Players can check their ticket by going to any Lotto store and running their ticket through a terminal, or by logging on to NZ Lotteries website www.nzlotteries.co.nz and checking their ticket against the winning serial numbers.

The winning serial numbers for draw 927, Saturday 19 March 2005 are:

Store Town Serial Number

Countdown Church Corner Christchurch 836-24422661-20XX

Marlborough Stationers Glenfield 837-28051209-20XX

Windsor Take Note Invercargill 837-11685412-20XX

Mangere East Post & More Mangere East 837-18442522-20XX

Inner City Post & Lotto Palmerston North 837-06360856-20XX

There are still 10 Winning Wheel winners from the last 8 months who have yet to come forward and go on the draw to spin and win up to $1 million. Their tickets will expire 12 months from the date they were drawn.

Winning Wheel ticket serial numbers still to be claimed from previous draws:

Store Town Draw Date Serial Number

Raureka Lotto & Superette Hastings 21 Aug 04 626-27422219-20XX

Schofields Paper Power Papatoetoe 04 Sep 04 638-38157825-20XX

Unichem Waiheke Pharmacy Waiheke Island 02 Oct 04 667-17237250-20XX

Hastings City New World Hastings 13 Nov 04 711-18459436-20XX

Waterloo Lotto & Gift Shop Lower Hutt 04 Dec 04 732-08497448-20XX

Elles Road New World Invercargill 22 Dec 04 750-65182988-20XX

525 Mags & Cards Tauranga 25 Dec 04 752-03124252-20XX

Botany Downs Pak N Save Manukau City 08 Jan 05 767-22675986-20XX

Civic Video Mt Richmond Auckland 29 Jan 05 785-13537026-20XX

Lakeside Lotto & Deli Taupo 12 Feb 05 809-65720863-20XX

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