"I had scratched the ticket and checked it, but I didn't think it had won anything," the man said.

"I thought I had only two $10,000 symbols, rather than three.

"So when I went back to the outlet to buy a lottery ticket, I handed the Instant Scratch-Its ticket to the lady at the counter and said 'It's not a winner, you can throw it away' and I walked out of the shop.

"But then she yelled out to me as I walking out of the shop and said 'Hey, you'll want to keep hold of this,' and told me it was a winner.

"It was quite the surprise! I'm not used to seeing three $10,000 symbols on a ticket, so I didn't even realise I'd won."

The man said he celebrated his unexpected winnings with a fancy lunch date with his wife, and said he'd spend the cash on a new car.

Manuka Newsagency owner Matt Nobbs said he was happy for the winning customer.

"The winner actually called us a few days later to thank our employee, Rhonda, who was the one who told him the ticket was a winner and not to throw it out," Mr Nobbs said.

"He is a lovely man and we are really happy for him.

"Hopefully this is the start of a winning streak, because it's a great to be able to deliver a big win to a customer."