End of the road for $19m Lotto winner’s job
A worker on the Transport Agency’s Puhoi motorway extension project quit the gig after finding out he had won a $19 million Lotto prize.
The ticket was sold to a man living in Warkworth, who had no idea someone in his town had the multimilliondollar ticket.
And in an interview on TVNZ’s Seven Sharp a worker on the Puhoi motorway extension project said one lucky punter on the team had discovered he had the ticket.
“I play Lotto religiously but it wasn’t me,” he said.
“We were fortunate to have one of our people on the project . . . and whammo, he won the winning ticket.
He said his lucky co-worker had turned up on the job but, upon discovering the news, the rest of his team had suggested he go home.
The winner, who wanted to remain anonymous when he spoke to the Herald last week, said he stopped at his local supermarket on Monday night to grab something for dinner and checked his Lotto ticket while he was there.
“I handed over my ticket to the lady behind the counter and the words ‘Congratulations, you are a First Division winner’ flashed up on the screen.
“I asked the lady ‘ What does this mean?’ but the expression on her face gave it away — her eyes were wide and she had a massive grin on her face,” said the winner. “When she told me I had won $19 million it was like it didn’t even register.”
The Warkworth man was one of two tickets holders who shared the $38m jackpot prize. The other $19.1 million Powerball winner was claimed by a Wairarapa syndicate of three generations yesterday.