A Northland man has claimed a $200,000 Lotto Strike prize more than eight months on from the draw after he discovered a forgotten ticket tucked away in his glovebox when he was cleaning his car last week.
The winning ticket, purchased at Pak’nSave Kaitaia, had gone unclaimed since November.
Lotto NZ was preparing to escalate efforts to locate the winner when he came forward.
Head of corporate communications Will Hine said the winner claiming his prize was “perfect timing”.
“We were days away from reaching out to the winner’s bank, like we did recently with an unclaimed $500,000 prize in Auckland.
“We much prefer our winners find out they’ve won themselves – it’s all part of the winning experience, so this is the best outcome for everyone.”
The winner, who wished to remain anonymous, said he vaguely remembered hearing that Pak’nSave Kaitaia sold the winning ticket but never imagined that he had it.
“I forgot I’d put some tickets in the glovebox,” he said.
“I was cleaning it out last week when I saw the tickets and thought ‘hmm, I don’t think I’ve checked these.'”
After retrieving his notebook where he recorded weekly winning numbers, he matched the first four digits and was stunned.
“My first thought was ‘holy cow!’ – I was very shocked,” he said.
“I can’t stop smiling – it’s come in very handy for us – it’s changed our life in a great way.”
