Underwear first on Lotto winner’s list

He won one of the biggest Lotto prizes in New Zealand history – and the first thing he bought was a pack of undies from Farmers.

A Christchurch electrician has claimed the $20.2 million Lotto Powerball prize from last Saturday’s draw, and says he has already given half his winnings to family.

He bought the winning ticket from The Hub Hornby mall in Christchurch. It hit the $20m Powerball first division and picked up $200,000 from Lotto first division.

The man, aged in his late 50s, has had the ticket in his wallet for nearly a week.

‘‘I thought when I checked my ticket I’d find out for sure it wasn’t me. And it was fun to dream for a while,’’ said the man, who wished to remain anonymous.

‘‘I actually thought I was one of the five winners who won $200,000, so I was thinking ‘great, that’s a house deposit’.’’

He eventually checked it midweek while he was already on an errand.

‘‘It’s actually funny, I was already heading to Farmers so the first thing I bought was a pack of undies.’’

When the woman behind the Lotto counter told him he had won $20.2m, he ‘‘immediately felt a sense of relief’’.

‘‘My first thought was ‘Yay, I can retire now’.’’

He then visited his partner at work, who said ‘‘you’ve got to be kidding me, right?’’, he said.

‘‘There were a few tears and a couple of hugs, but we had to hold it together as she had to go back to work. I don’t think she got much done that day,’’ the winner said.

The sparkie is helping his family pay off mortgages, among other things.

‘‘What makes the win even more special is that we have already gifted half of it away,’’ he said.

‘‘Family is the most important thing and we are so excited to be able to share our luck with the people we love most – and know that it’s not just our life that has changed.

‘‘And by giving half away, there’s no chance I’ll go crazy with my winnings. I am looking forward to some downtime and doing a bit of travelling.’’

The man would not reveal if he was a Hornby native.