A million-dollar Lotto ticket bought in Balclutha has been claimed by an Otago man who only ever buys a ticket "every now and then".
The $1million Lotto first division winning ticket was bought at Ryder’s Paper Plus in Balclutha for last week’s Wednesday night draw.
The win was claimed in Gore last week, by a man who bought the ticket when he was "passing through" Balclutha.
The Otago man, who wished to remain anonymous, said he bought the ticket "on a whim".
"I was just walking past the Lotto shop and I thought ‘hang on, Lotto’s on tonight, I might get a ticket’."
He was not an avid Lotto player and only bought tickets for the draw "every now and then".
"I guess it was just a bit of good timing that I bought a ticket that day."
He first thought he was seeing things when he saw six matching numbers in a row.
He told his wife about the match and she told him to check the ticket.
Once the win was confirmed, the man played a joke on his wife by telling her he mixed the dates up and had not won.
"Let’s just say she knows me too well and immediately knew I was pulling her leg," he said.
He suspected winning $1million made it easier for her to forgive him for the joke.
The couple planned to use the money to help their children and invest it further.
He said he was excited to share the windfall with their children and to set themselves up a bit.
"I honestly just feel like the luckiest man."
The $1million win was in the same week as another Otago couple won $18.2million with Powerball in last Saturday’s Lotto draw.
