Photo: Supplied / Lotto NZ
A family on Auckland's North Shore have come forward to claim their $30.2 million Lotto prize - a month after the draw took place.
The purchaser of the ticket was joined by some of his children as he claimed the prize, the seventh-equal largest win in Lotto NZ history.
"I still can't believe this is actually real," one of the man's daughters said. "It feels like someone's going to pop their head in at any moment and tell us it's all a big joke."
The girl's father was a regular Lotto player who purchased the ticket at the Albany Central Superette four weeks ago.
Not one to check his tickets regularly, the ticket was stashed in the top of his wardrobe at home.
Despite one of his daughter's texting him the day after the draw to check whether he had won, having seen the prize had been won at the store he had purchased from, the ticket went unchecked and the prize unclaimed.
As time went on, the man had an inkling it might be him.
"After a week, I heard the prize still wasn't claimed so I started to think it could be me, and then when it still hadn't been claimed after another week, I was maybe 70 percent sure I had the winning ticket."
It was at this point the man finally checked online and discovered he was a "major prize winner".
Unaware exactly how much he had won, the man said the woman in the store "burst into tears" when he asked her to check his ticket.
"She was so happy for me."
He spent some time processing the news at home before sharing it with the rest of his family, who joined him at Lotto HQ to collect the prize.
Whilst there, the man received a video call from his mother - whom he had not yet broken the news to.
"I'm at the Lotto office, mum," he told her. "I've won some money ... I've won $30m."
The room erupted into cheers and laughter, while the man's mother gasped in disbelief.
As for what he plans to spend his money on, he said the most important thing for him is that his family are looked after.
"And now I know they will be. My kids and my grandkids will be comfortable."
Once he knows they are sorted, the man planned to buy a few toys for himself including a new car, a motorbike, a ride-on lawnmower - and perhaps even a boat.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.