A Lotto prize of $5,023,999, has been claimed after an Invercargill couple left the ticket in the glovebox of their car for a time.
The ticket scooped them a share of the $50 million Powerball prize from last Saturday’s must-be-won draw.
The couple, who wish to remain anonymous, had no idea they were sitting on the winning ticket until they visited Collingwood Foodcentre on Wednesday to buy a ticket for that night’s Lotto draw.
"I asked the lady working behind the counter to check my ticket from Saturday night. Next minute she stopped and looked at me, and then back at the ticket, and then back at me again — I wondered what was going on," she said.
She said she looked at the screen and "burst out bawling".
The woman and her husband went out the back of the shop to sit down and absorb the life-changing news.
"You always dream that you’re going to win, but you never think you will — so this has come as a big surprise."
The regular Lotto players’ ticket was a $12 Power Dip.
Asked where they kept their winning ticket, the woman said it was kept in the glovebox of their car.
Once the couple returned home from claiming their prize, they decided to break normal routine to celebrate; extended family was invited over for a celebratory dinner that night, and they opened some champagne to toast their win.
While they plan to take some time to let the reality of the big win sink in before deciding how they will spend it, they do want to carry out house renovations and plan for their future.
