Earlier this week it was revealed an Auckland woman unwittingly had a winning Lotto ticket in a drawer for four months before discovering it was worth $333,333.<\/p>\n
The woman, who did not want to be named, held the golden ticket with a collection of unchecked tickets and only last week took them to get scanned before her grocery shop.<\/p>\n
\u201cI tend to buy tickets now and then and stick them in a drawer … then eventually I\u2019ll check them all at once,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels surreal. You buy tickets with a bit of hope, but you don\u2019t really think it\u2019s going to happen to you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her first priority was a new car, to help family and then \u201cmaybe have a little holiday\u201d.<\/p>\n
She said she only played \u201coccasionally\u201d and missed the news that a big prize had been won in St Heliers in June.<\/p>\n
Lotto New Zealand twice put out reminders of the unclaimed Four Square St Heliers win after three lucky players split the draw\u2019s $1 million jackpot.<\/a><\/p>\n The woman popped into a Lotto store on the way to the supermarket early last week.<\/p>\n \u201cThe winning music played, and the operator very quietly handed me a slip of paper with the amount on it.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a bit of a surprise \u2013 a very pleasant one of course. I had to look twice to make sure I was reading it correctly.\u201d<\/p>\n Instead of doing her food shop she went straight home and told her husband who was equally surprised.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve learned my lesson too. I won\u2019t be letting my tickets build up in the drawer anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n