Lottery ‘Spies’ Make a Move on Unsuspecting $5.2 Million Winner

Can you imagine winning the lottery and not even knowing you’ve bagged millions and then, one day in the street, two people approach you claiming you’re a multi-millionaire? Sounds like a plot from some movie but trust me, it’s real! An unwitting lottery winning of some $5.2 million had an un-checked lotto ticket stored in his glovebox and only when the lotto spies approached him on the streets of New Zealand, did the man realise he was richer than he could have ever imagined!

Using a set of particular skills, the lotto spies took a month to track down the unknown lottery winner and made his dreams come true in the process. It’s like Liam Neeson in Taken…they did look for him, they did find him, and they did…tell him, okay, so that ending is completely different to the movie, but it’s amazing nonetheless! The Morrinsville winner’s lottery ticket dates back to October 17^th when his Lotto Powerball ticket came up trumps!

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His family have been urging him ever since to check his ticket, but he never thought it would be him so did nothing. The prize went unclaimed for a whole month before Lotto spies obtained CCTV footage to review who bought the ticket. They knew the store, the time the ticket was bought – they just didn’t know who won!

Marie Winfield, Lotto NZ head of communications, revealed how the lotto staff jumped into their car and headed to Auckland to track down the mystery winner: “They went to where they knew he would be and managed to catch him outside on the street at a time when he wasn’t surrounded by anyone and went up to him. We got very lucky in this situation, we were able to track down the person relatively easily, fortunately in this day and age technology makes it a little bit easier.”

How amazing is that?! Ms Winfield continued: “It’s not every day you get to approach someone on the street and tell them that we think they are a multi-millionaire. They said the best thing was seeing the look on the man’s face when he checked the ticket and he realised they weren’t joking, describing it as ‘absolutely priceless’. We were 100 per cent sure when we approached him, he was the one who purchased the ticket. While he was standing there, he went to his car, retrieved the ticket, and they were able to check it on the spot. There’s always that fear that someone’s lost it.”

It’s only the second time in history the NZ lottery teams have had to chase down a winner, making it all the more spectacular. We wonder what the lucky winner will buy with his money? If he continues to play the lotto, we hope he never leaves his ticket in his glovebox ever again!