Those of us who have not won a major lottery prize can only imagine the excitement and nervousness that accompany it. Nervous because – what happens if you lose your ticket? Drop it somewhere? Recycle it? Spill coffee over it? Well, one New Zealand woman had the perfect solution to those worries – she placed the ticket under her pillow overnight for safe keeping. Because she was nervous, it ended up a sleepless night. Perfectly understandable as the woman won two prizes. The combined prize was $8,250,000 (around £4.1m). First she won the jackpot ($8m) then a separate $250k Division 1 prize.
Why She Kept the Ticket Under Her Pillow
People go to extraordinary lengths to protect a coveted ticket. Some hide it in a sock drawer or between pages of a favoured book. Others keep it in their wallet or purse so it never leaves their side. Keeping a ticket under her pillow is probably quite common. The woman who chose to keep her anonymity was more than happy to speak to lottery organisers about her excitement. At first she could not believe her luck and asked her husband to double check. Only when the news report said the winning ticket was sold in Matamata did they finally have it confirmed. It went in her handbag and then took it to bed.
But she did not sleep. Too excited, she got up several times to check the ticket was still there. They waited until they had the prize firmly in their proverbial hand before telling their family. At the time of going to press, they said they were still processing the win and deciding what to do. They did say they’d help family and enjoy their new comfortable life. The store owners said it was a long time since they had such a big winner and were pleased with the sale.