Auckland man unwittingly uses $20m winning Lotto ticket as bookmark for two months

A West Auckland man has finally claimed his $20.1 million winning lotto ticket after it was used for nearly two months as a bookmark. 

The man, who wishes to stay anonymous, found the golden ticket inside a book he picked back up after taking a break from reading before coming forward to claim the prize. 

It was purchased in July at the Blockhouse Bay Postshop & Stationers. 

The now multi-millionaire explained it could easily have stayed on the bookshelf a few more months. 

“Even when I found the ticket, I didn’t put two and two together.” 

The man said he heard his local shop had won big but “never imagine it could be his”. 

“I knew they had sold a big one – but you never think it’s going to be you, do you?” 

A Lotto spokesperson said the man had not yet told anyone but planned to share news with close family in the near future. 

Later that same week he remembered the ticket was stashed in his wallet, so went and scanned it under the self-check ticket finder. 

When a “major prize” flashed on the screen, he thought it would be “a few thousand dollars”. 

He said when he handed it over to the Lotto checkout to get it checked, winning music played as the operator told him how much he’d won. 

“He was more excited than me,” said the man. “I think I was in shock. 

“I’m going to take things slow and really think about what to do with this money. 

“I do want to go on an overseas trip, but that’s the only plan so far.” 

Lotto NZ head of corporate communications Will Hine said in August the lottery asked local Powerball players to check their tickets, after the prize went unclaimed for several weeks. 

“We’re so pleased the lucky winner found his ticket and checked it before we started the next stage of our search. 

“I can only imagine what it must have felt like to realise that his bookmark was worth $20.1 million.” 

Another big jackpot of $333,333 won in a draw on June 27 remains unclaimed. 

The winning ticket was sold at Four Square in Auckland’s St Heliers, with Hine urging people have a search and “maybe have a scan of your bookshelf”.