The Auckland supermarket where the winning $1 million lotto ticket was lost.

It was a story you would expect wouldn't have a happy ending. A $1 Million winner in New Zealand was about to claim his prize from the lottery headquarters.

He bought some beer from the supermarket in the photo to celebrate later.

And while he was loading it into his car, guess where he put the ticket...

"I got back to my car and as I opened the door, I put the box of beers in the back seat and, for some reason, put the Lotto ticket on the roof of my car," the man said.

People leave all sorts of things on their car roof.

It was in an envelope. After all, this was one valuable piece of paper! And then he drove off, forgetting all about it until he reached his home.

You'd expect this story to end badly.

Here's what actually happened...

The man returned and frantically searched the supermarket car park. 

No luck.

He thought maybe it had been stolen. So he decided to retrace his steps - only to find it sitting in the middle of the road.

"I couldn't believe it was just sitting there," he said.

"Now I can say I am truly a lucky person."