I should be so lucky!

[MotherBear]

[color=green:50ec1254d4]Yes, I sometimes have trouble sleeping too, but it's not down to this. This sort of sleepless night I could handle, thank you very much. Good luck to him, anyway. He'll need it.[/color:50ec1254d4]

[b:50ec1254d4]$13m Lotto winner having trouble sleeping [/b:50ec1254d4]
14 February 2006

A central North Island man is having trouble sleeping after belatedly finding out he won $13.1 million in a Lotto draw last week. The ticket for the Big Wednesday first division prize, the third biggest win in New Zealand lotteries, was sold at a Four Square in Thames but remained unclaimed until the man, who wishes to remain anonymous, took it into a Lotto shop to get it checked.

"I had absolutely no idea that I'd won anything until I went and got the ticket checked and when it went through the machine the lottery operator gave me the strangest look. "They took me to another part of the store and told me that I'd won the big one."

The man will get $11,241,184 in cash plus $1,578,940 in prizes, including cars, a holiday home and overseas travel. "I haven't been sleeping - all these things keep racing around in my head.

"It's just so much money to win and there's so much to think about," he said. "I'm going to put it in the bank for a while and think about it, and then decide what I'll do, but family will definitely be the main beneficiary."
The man was not a regular ticket buyer, but got his "act together" prompted by the size of last week's draw. "I heard about the draw and that that big prize had been won by a ticket sold in Thames, but I had my ticket stuck in the back of my wallet and wasn't in any hurry to get it checked."
The largest ever lotteries win in New Zealand was a Powerball prize of $15.2 million in September 2005, followed by a $14.7 million Powerball win in April 2004.

[selchie]

Yeah, he can afford gallons of warm milk now to help him sleep. Good on him, though.

[MotherBear]

This might be a good place to ask fellow members what they would do if they won such an amount. Nice to dream for a while [smilie=sleeping.gif] .

Personally, after taking care to see my family on a good footing, I'd make a bee-line for NZIS and try to get into NZ under the investor's category. Sorted! :smiley20:

After that I'd be looking into doing up our house just the way I want it. But there again, perhaps there'd be something bigger and better out there waiting for me.

Bah! Pity I have to wake up [smilie=sad.gif] .