ISSUE
Friday, October 16, 2026
Volume 18 . Issue 41
A ticket pinned to a noticeboard for days turned into a life-changing discovery for two Northland friends, who were left screaming with excitement after learning they had won $1 million in Lotto.
According to 1News, the pair, who have played Lotto together for 16 years, won the first division prize on a bonus ticket sold at Woolworths Kerikeri for the draw on Wednesday, October 14.
The two women, who wished to remain anonymous, had won the bonus ticket in the October 10 draw.
The ticket remained pinned to a noticeboard for several days before one of the women took it home and scanned it using the ticket checker on the MyLotto app.
When a 'major prize' message appeared on the screen, she began to suspect they had won something significant.
"That's when I thought 'far out – we could have won something big here'.
"My heart was pumping and all I could think was that I needed to call my friend," 1News quoted.
Unaware that a major Lotto prize had been won in Northland, she decided to check the numbers before contacting her friend, not wanting to get ahead of herself.
"There they all were, all lined up one after the other. Then I checked how many winners there were – just one winner of $1 million. It was such a shock," 1News quoted.
She then called her friend, who learnt the news with screams of excitement over the phone.
"She had me on speakerphone, so I told her husband to make her a cuppa to help her calm down," she told 1News.
The pair visited a store a couple of days later to claim their winnings, when the reality of their good fortune finally began to sink in.
"It didn't feel real until that point. When we saw that little slip of paper with $1,000,000 on it – well, seeing is believing."
The friends said they were looking forward to using the money to help their families, while one of them was also considering a trip to Europe.
A ticket pinned to a noticeboard for days turned into a life-changing discovery for two Northland friends, who were left screaming with excitement after learning they had won $1 million in Lotto.According to 1News, the pair, who have played Lotto together for 16 years, won the first division prize...
A ticket pinned to a noticeboard for days turned into a life-changing discovery for two Northland friends, who were left screaming with excitement after learning they had won $1 million in Lotto.
According to 1News, the pair, who have played Lotto together for 16 years, won the first division prize on a bonus ticket sold at Woolworths Kerikeri for the draw on Wednesday, October 14.
The two women, who wished to remain anonymous, had won the bonus ticket in the October 10 draw.
The ticket remained pinned to a noticeboard for several days before one of the women took it home and scanned it using the ticket checker on the MyLotto app.
When a 'major prize' message appeared on the screen, she began to suspect they had won something significant.
"That's when I thought 'far out – we could have won something big here'.
"My heart was pumping and all I could think was that I needed to call my friend," 1News quoted.
Unaware that a major Lotto prize had been won in Northland, she decided to check the numbers before contacting her friend, not wanting to get ahead of herself.
"There they all were, all lined up one after the other. Then I checked how many winners there were – just one winner of $1 million. It was such a shock," 1News quoted.
She then called her friend, who learnt the news with screams of excitement over the phone.
"She had me on speakerphone, so I told her husband to make her a cuppa to help her calm down," she told 1News.
The pair visited a store a couple of days later to claim their winnings, when the reality of their good fortune finally began to sink in.
"It didn't feel real until that point. When we saw that little slip of paper with $1,000,000 on it – well, seeing is believing."
The friends said they were looking forward to using the money to help their families, while one of them was also considering a trip to Europe.
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