‘There were so many zeroes’
Shop owner’s shock at checking $24m Lotto ticket
A New Plymouth shop owner who checked a $24 million-winning Lotto ticket thought at first her customer had won only $24,000.
Ying Zhu was at the counter of Devon Lotto ‘N’ Treats on Wednesday morning when the man walked in.
He held in his hand a ticket from Saturday night’s Lotto and Powerball draw.
‘‘I was told the winners were an elderly couple, so I didn’t give it much thought,’’ Zhu told the Taranaki Daily News yesterday, after Lotto announced the winner had finally come forward.
‘‘Then it came up on the screen and I printed the machine ticket and I thought he had won $24,000.
‘‘But then I looked at it and there were so many zeroes.’’
Zhu looked at the customer, pointed to the ticket and told him he had won
$24 million.
‘‘He just nodded his head and said ‘I know’. He was just very quiet, very calm.’’
The lucky winner, who wants to remain anonymous, said he had no idea Powerball had even been struck when he woke up on Wednesday morning, only checking his ticket when he spied it while preparing breakfast.
‘‘I opened the pantry to decide what I wanted to eat and noticed my ticket sat there, so I thought it would be a good time to check it,’’ he said.
‘‘I pulled out my phone and went to the website to check the winning numbers. I was drawn to the bottom of the ticket and once I realised I had three numbers, my eyes were skipping ahead trying to finish checking it quickly.’’
A regular player, he had picked up his ticket, which earned him $1m from Lotto
First Division and $23m from Powerball, earlier that week from Bell Block Supermarket.
It is not known if the man finished his breakfast first but he decided to drive into New Plymouth to officially get the ticket checked, which he did at Devon Lotto ‘N’ Treats, in Devon St East.
‘‘When I pulled up, I saw a sign in the window saying that night’s prize was back to $4 million, that was when it started to feel real,’’ he said.
‘‘Fortunately, there was no-one in the shop, so I handed my ticket over and the lady put it through the machine.
‘‘It is hard to describe how I was feeling, I think I was so focused on filling in the paperwork and making sure it was confirmed that my mind couldn’t really process that I had won $24 million – the odds are so low, I kept thinking, how jammy is that?’’
Back home, and with his mind spinning with what had happened, the winner decided to head back into town.
‘‘It was a funny drive, I passed some lovely houses and thought I could buy one of those right now,’’ he said.
‘‘Same with car showrooms.
‘‘I have never been the kind of person to want extravagant things – it is not me – but I just kept thinking how nice it would be to drive around in a flashy red sports car.
‘‘Everything was suddenly possible and my mind was in overdrive.’’
Later that night, after he had finished some work in the afternoon, he decided it was time for a celebration – a spicy takeaway and a couple of cold beers.
‘‘I took them home and celebrated being a millionaire, it felt good to relax for a bit,’’ he said.
Bell Block Supermarket owner Sewak Singh was relieved to hear someone had claimed the ticket and the winner was from New Plymouth.
‘‘I have had a lot of people from outside, like people visiting from Australia and out of town, who could have bought the ticket, so it was good to hear,’’ he told the Taranaki Daily News.
‘‘It is nice, I am very happy some of the money will be spent around New Plymouth.’’
The winning ticket holder was looking forward to his future and is already planning what that might look like.
‘‘First I would like to get away and decompress for a little while, so I think I am going to book myself a holiday somewhere warm and sandy,’’ he said.
‘‘In the future I would like to buy some land and a property somewhere in New Zealand but I definitely think travel will be a big part of the next few years for me.’’