A South Auckland woman has claimed a $500,000 Lotto win after finding a forgotten bonus ticket that was left in a zipped pocket in her handbag.
The woman, who asked to remain anonymous, said she was contacted by Lotto last week in relation to a First Division prize from May 31, 2025.
"I got a call, asking if I had bought a ticket around that time and whether I might have any old ones lying around," she said.
"I had noticed some tickets in my bag a few days before but assumed I had already checked them and thought no more about them."
She rummaged around in her bag, and rediscovered the tickets, one being the First Division winner.
"The person on the phone read out the winning numbers as I checked them on my ticket – I had all six and she asked me if I knew what that meant – but I didn’t.
“That’s when she told me that matching six Lotto numbers was a First Division prize, and the prize for that draw was $500,000 – I didn’t know what to say – I was absolutely speechless and almost in tears.”
After the call, she told her husband what had happened. Together, they opened the MyLotto app and were greeted by a "major prize" message.
"That’s when he started to believe it was true and tucked it into his wallet for safe keeping."
She then joked to her husband: "Hey, what’s wrong with keeping it in my bag? It’s been safe there for months."
The woman had taken the handbag on an overseas holiday while the winning ticket was unknowingly in there.
“It’s been everywhere with me for the past few months, even on an overseas holiday. I can’t believe I was basically carrying around a bag with $500,000 in it.
“I call this my magic bag now,” she laughed.
The couple said they were planning to buy their first home with the money.
“This changes everything for us – it means we can buy our first home, and I just don’t have words for how that feels,” she said.
How Lotto NZ tracked the woman down
Lotto NZ said it began working behind the scenes using electronic transaction records to find the woman after the winning ticket went unclaimed for more than a month.
Lotto NZ head of corporate communications Will Hine said: "When the woman claimed her bonus ticket, she also bought another ticket using a card, and that card was registered to a MyLotto account, which had a phone number listed.
"That gave us enough information to reach out and ask some questions – and luckily, she still had the ticket."
Hine said if the woman had lost her ticket, Lotto NZ would have undertaken a "full investigation" to confirm ownership.
"We're really happy to know that this prize is going to make such a difference in their lives, helping them into their first home."
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