12th time lucky for birthday boy
When ‘‘happy birthday’’ text messages turned into ‘‘congratulations’’, Redwood Lotto owner Peter Matthews was initially confused.
‘‘It was bizarre, I was reading all of these birthday messages from my friends and then suddenly the messages started changing,’’ Matthews said.
It turned out Lotto had tried to contact him to tell him his store had sold a winning $9 million ticket but his wife, Claire, had her phone on charge and had not seen the call from Lotto.
The texts prompted him to check the Lotto website but he could not see anything.
However, a second check on the website showed the Blenheim Lotto store had sold Wednesday’s winning Powerball first division and Lotto first division.
No-one had claimed the winning ticket yesterday. It is not the first time Matthews has sold a first division winning ticket. It is actually the 11th and 12th.
‘‘Technically it is the 12th because they won two separate games,’’ Matthews said.
Despite this track record, he was still just as surprised as the first time it happened.
‘‘I am very excited, I could not believe it,’’ he said. ‘‘I bought a ticket too but I did not win.’’