Leader of the Labour Party David Shearer made his way into the Cambridge Terrace lotto shop in Wellington today to claim a major prize on a lottery ticket he purchased more than eleven months ago.
Shearer told a gathering of media outside the store that he’d bought the ticket from a Wellington dairy in April of last year, only to find out he’d won that same night.
“I was pretty excited” said Shearer. “I told Anuschka that we’d go down to the lottery offices first thing in the morning and claim the prize. But we were both busy and I forgot.”
Getting in just before the 12 month cut-off time for claiming all lottery prizes, chair of the New Zealand Lotteries Board Judy Kirk said Mr. Shearer was lucky to still get his money.
“I think this should serve as an important reminder to all our lottery winners to claim their prizes as early as possible” she said. “You never know when you’ll forget that obscene amount of money you’ve won.”
Shearer agreed, adding that it was a “bloody good thing” he remembered his ticket when he did.
Shearer refused to disclose how much money he’d won, but assured media that it was more than $50,000.