A Christchurch family stayed up until the early hours of the morning planning their future, after winning $1 million in Lotto First Division.

The lucky family, who are occasional players, thought the win was too good to be true when they checked their ticket last Wednesday evening.

“I started checking my ticket on MyLotto, and at the same time, I got an email saying I was a Major Prize Winner,” the man said.

“When I saw I had all six numbers and had won $1m, I thought it was a joke! There were so many zeros.

“I was shocked. I waited for the kids to go to bed and went into the garage to calm down.”

After decompressing, the man told his wife he had some “exciting news. She wasn’t sure what I was talking about, so I told her we’d won $1m. She didn’t believe me, so I showed her the ticket, and she just gasped.”

The couple were up until 3am talking about their win.

“It was a bit hard going to work the next day,” the man admitted.

With their prize claimed, the couple are now looking ahead. “We’re not going to rush into anything. We plan to keep working and invest some of the money,” the man said.

“We also want to spoil ourselves a bit, but mainly, we want to set our family up for the future.”

The winning Lotto First Division ticket was sold on MyLotto for the draw on Wednesday 10 January 2024.