Thames couple celebrate $1m prize

Lotto winning ticket bought on an impulse

The green fingers of a couple from Thames has led to a happy surprise after a trip to buy some plants netted them $1 million in Lotto First Division.

Lotto said the couple, who wished to remain anonymous, were regular players who bought a Triple Dip earlier in the week.

“I was in town buying a few plants when I decided to grab a ticket at the same time,” the woman said.

The couple didn’t watch the draw on Wednesday, but after hearing a winning ticket had been sold in Ngatea, the woman was quick to check her yellow ticket the next morning.

“I scanned it on the Mylotto App, and it came up with ‘Major Prize Winner’, which I figured had to mean more than a Bonus Ticket, but I wasn’t sure how much exactly,” she said.

“I looked up the winning numbers and matched them against my ticket, marking each one off — I couldn’t believe it when I had all six!”

The woman frantically called her husband to share the wonderful news.

“I was on my work break when I got a call from her,” the man said. “She asked if I was sitting down, and I thought something must be wrong!

“When she told me we’d won, I started losing it. My face must have looked all over the place!” the man said.

The man held it together for the rest of the day before arriving home to find the celebration drinks already on ice.

“We invited ordered takeaways and our family around to celebrate,” the man said.

Amid the celebrations and “nonstop tears of joy”, the couple have slowly begun to think about their next steps.

“This is such good news for us. We’re at the age where we have more time to enjoy life, and this win will help us a lot,” the man said.

The winning Lotto First Division ticket was sold at Ngatea Lotto & Foodmart in Ngatea for the draw on Wednesday.