Irene Carson won a Lotto first division prize, worth $1.26 million, in March 2008 with a ticket her daughter-in-law-to-be sent from Auckland.
The then-checkout worker had paid her bills and had $60 in the bank and, when her usual tickets came to nothing, she expected to leave the Balclutha New World Lotto counter empty-handed.
"The machine didn't make the usual noise and I thought, 'oh, it's broken'. And when I got the little slip that had the winnings on it I thought 'sweet, $1200 - I can get my hair cut'."
She had misread the slip, but the "absolutely excited and shaking" Lotto operator had not.
The widowed mother of three, a one-time beneficiary and Order of St John volunteer, suddenly had enough money to do whatever she wanted.
Mrs Carson kept working at the checkout at New World but left her rented house for a new home at Kaitangata. Her ageing Toyota Corona was replaced with a Toyota Rav4 and she spent more time visiting grandchildren in Kaikoura.
Her first - and so far only - trip overseas was to the Bathurst 1000 car race in Australia last year.
"Putting the money in a trust means I haven't just blown it. I'd advise anyone who wins the big one do that. I still budget on an allowance from it, and I still have to plan the best way to spend it," she said.
"But getting a win like that means you have the sort of freedom that is really hard to get when you are working to make ends meet. And I'm lucky to have great people around me and live in a lovely place, so it's a good balance to have."
Mrs Carson suffered a brain aneurism in her home in January last year but she had forgotten to lock the door when she arrived home from work and her sister was able to get inside.
She was taken to Dunedin Hospital and recovered.
Mrs Carson went back to work part-time as a night-fill worker about four months ago. She said she would not go back to the checkout, because other people needed full-time work much more than her.
She has bought a ticket for tonight's Lotto draw, but said she would prefer to share it with someone else. Another $500,000, say, would be nice.
"I've been very, very lucky, and it would be nice to see someone who deserves a hand to get it. You feel good for people when you can see it will help them out."
THE NUMBERS
• Players have a one in 38,383,800 chance of winning Lotto Division 1 and Powerball.
• The luckiest Powerball number is 3. It has been drawn 15 times, followed by 8 (12 times) and 2 (11 times).
• Powerball 9 was the least drawn (2 times), although it was only added to the game in October 2007.
• The South Island's best Powerball prize, $11 million, went to a ticket sold at the Hokitika New World in November 2002.
