A man from Christchurch, New Zealand, scooped the NZD$ 14.3 million jackpot at the weekend, but never thought to check his numbers until his girlfriend rang him on Monday morning and told him she had a 'feeling' he'd won.
Acting on his girlfriend's advice, he dashed to the nearest Lotto store, handed his ticket over to be checked, and discovered his girlfriend's prediction was bang on the money.
"The guy at the Lotto store told me I'd won $14,000 and I thought 'that's amazing' I was so excited that I phoned my girlfriend straight away to tell her," the man recalled, but his heart sank moments later when the store clerk examined the numbers more closely.
"While I was on the phone, the guy said to me 'I'm really sorry, I've made a mistake' and straight away my stomach dropped," the man continued. "Then he said, 'you've actually won $14 million.'"
After he got off the phone to his girlfriend the man had two more important calls to make. He rang the airport and booked a ticket to Auckland so that he could claim his prize and then rang his boss to say he quit.
The lucky winner has opted to remain anonymous, but New Zealand Lotto representative Emilia Mazur confirmed the man presented the winning ticket on Monday afternoon.
When asked about his plans for the money the man said he'd always dreamed of owning a house set in five acres of land, but admitted he had so many other ideas anything was possible.
"I'll probably still buy a house, and I want to help all of my kids get houses too," he said.
