Lotto winner to buy used car with new fortune

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(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-06-26 09:05

WELLINGTON: The winner of a 24-million-dollar lottery in New Zealand wants to buy "a little second-hand car" after her family scooped the country's biggest ever jackpot.

Two sisters, who did not want to give their surname, told journalists yesterday their big win shared with their mother and a daughter was "scary".

"It doesn't happen to people like us," Fiona said.

The family from the town of Masterton, 100 kilometers north of the capital Wellington, scooped the jackpot in the Big Wednesday lottery.

Their loot included 34.45 million New Zealand dollars in cash, equivalent to 22 million US dollars, luxury Audi and Porsche cars, and a holiday home.

Fiona, a nurse, and bakery worker Siobhan still plan to go to work today despite their newfound riches.

"We're not going to do anything right now, we need a lot of time to think about it," Fiona said.

"I just want to be comfortable. It would be just nice not having that mortgage, not having that student loan, getting the kids their education and having a family trip," the mother of two said.

The sisters' mother plans to buy a "little second-hand" car after being turned down for a loan two weeks ago and is thinking of buying a new ambulance for the local hospital.

The mother, who did not want to be identified, said she was looking forward to going back to the bank, which turned down her car loan.

She was the first to realize the family had won when the correct numbers were announced on Wednesday night, and rang her daughters.

"I thought she was just joking and after a while of going through the numbers a thousand times I had to go down (to her house) and see it for real, and then I still didn't believe it." Fiona said.

AFP