$1m Lotto win ‘perfect timing’ for Christchurch family

A Christchurch family with a new arrival on the way is planning for the future after becoming overnight millionaires by winning $1 million with Lotto First Division on Saturday night.

The man, who wishes to remain anonymous, was spending his second Sunday in lockdown at home with his wife and daughter when he first got wind that the Lotto ticket he had purchased through the Lotto NZ App was about to change his family’s life.

“I was checking my emails over breakfast and saw that I had one from Lotto NZ. The email said I had a prize to claim – I thought it was a bit different and that maybe I’d won something a bit bigger than Division 6,” said the man.

“I opened up the Lotto NZ App and watched as it started checking my ticket – it didn’t take long before I realised there was a line where all the numbers were being circled off – they just kept coming. It was such a surreal feeling, I honestly couldn’t believe what I was seeing.”

With a $1 million winning Lotto ticket staring back at him, the winner was left dumbstruck as he absorbed the big news. He was so quiet in fact, that his wife noticed something a bit strange was going on at the other end of the breakfast table.

“I wondered what was going on – he was looking at his phone pretty intently! It took a few moments before I managed to get his attention – that’s when he showed me the ticket and said we’d won First Division… I was speechless. We just sat there at the table looking at each other in complete shock,” said the man’s wife.

“It’s funny, because that morning I had seen an article online saying that someone in Christchurch had won. But it truly never even crossed my mind that it could possibly be us!” she said.

After enjoying a quiet day in their bubble, the couple then spent Sunday evening writing a wish-list of everything they would like to do with their winnings.

“We’re actually expecting a baby soon, so this win truly couldn’t have come at a better time. Being in lockdown we’ve had plenty of time to think about what we want to do with our winnings – we made a bit of thing of it on Sunday evening actually.

“It was surreal sitting together, dreaming about all the things we could do with $1 million – and then realising that it’s all entirely possible now. It’s going to make such an enormous difference to us as a family,” said the man.

“You always hope to win Lotto – dreaming about what you would do is part of the fun. But for it to happen to us… it’s almost unbelievable. We’re simply over the moon.”

The $1 million winning Lotto First Division ticket was sold on MyLotto for the draw on Saturday 28 August.

© Scoop Media