$10m lotto win after lockdown job loss
Wednesday, 20 May 2020
A Hamilton man who lost his job at the start of lockdown was able to surprise his wife with a $10.3m lotto win lifeline.
The couple, who wish to remain anonymous, are still coming to terms with their win in the May 13 draw.
The man had lost his job in the weeks before their big win, and the woman, a healthcare worker has been working as an essential worker throughout.
The husband took also took a novel approach to delivering the news.
“I walked into the house and my husband was sitting at the kitchen table,' explained the woman.
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'There was an envelope waiting for me in my spot. He was acting strange - it was a bit awkward.”
“He told me to open the envelope – inside was a newspaper clipping of an article saying someone from Hamilton had won $10.3 million. I said, ‘why are you showing me this?’ He replied with, ‘it’s us, we are the winners.’ I thought he was joking,” said the woman.
“I didn’t get it – I didn’t understand why he was showing me the article. ‘That’s not us,’ I said. He had to show me the ticket on his phone before I believed him – I’ll never forget that moment - it felt too good to be true. It was very emotional.”
The man said it could not have come at a better time.
'I lost my job at the beginning of the lockdown, so we’ve been really worried about our future, particularly the impact it would have on our retirement, and our children’s education.”
The man first became aware of their win when he checked his emails the day after the draw, noticing there was one from MyLotto Customer Support.
“I saw an email saying I had won a prize and thought it must have been spam. I logged into MyLotto and checked my ticket – and sure enough it said I had won. My wife was at work, so I asked someone else in our bubble to check it for me to make sure I wasn’t seeing things. They confirmed: ‘Yep, that definitely says you’ve won $10 million.’ I couldn’t believe it!” he said.
With his wife due home for lunch, the man made a plan to surprise her with the news.
“I wasn’t sure how she would react – I cut out the article and popped it in an envelope for her. It was nerve-wracking watching her open it,” he said
“We’re still in shock, these types of things don’t happen to people like us,” the woman added.
The couple celebrated that night by sharing a bottle of bubbles. A sleepless night followed, with the pair lying awake, talking about all the possibilities for their future.
With the money now safely in their bank account, the couple are making plans for their future. They are planning to repair a beloved old car that broke down recently, pay off their mortgage, support their children’s tertiary education, and look for ways they can help other people in need.
“We just want to be as normal as possible – we don’t want this to change us. We feel incredibly lucky and want to set ourselves up for the future, but also look at how we can help others,” said the woman.