Eight Powerball Winners Claim Their Prize – Two Winners Yet To Come Forward

Eight of the ten lucky winners who shared the $50 million Powerball prize on the weekend have come forward to claim their prize.

The winners each take home an amazing $5,023,999, which is made up of $5 million from Powerball First Division, $7,631 Powerball Second Division and $16,368 from Lotto Second Division.

The winning tickets were sold at the following stores:

“We have never had so many Powerball winners in a Must Be Won draw before. The roll down to Second Division has meant that we have 10 very lucky winners to celebrate with, and we are absolutely thrilled for all of them,” says Marie Winfield, Head of Communications at Lotto NZ.

“Eight of our winners have come forward so we have been having lots of conversations over the phone with New Zealand’s newest multi-millionaires – it’s fair to say they are all extremely excited!” says Marie.

The two winners that are yet to come forward bought their tickets from Andrew Spence Pharmacy in Napier, and Collingwood Foodcentre in Invercargill.

“The winners from Napier and Invercargill have yet to claim their prizes – but we expect to hear from them soon.

“Either they know they have won and are laying low for a while to let the gravity of their life-changing windfall can sink in, or they are completely oblivious and have a very big surprise in store for them,” says Marie.

Lotto NZ recommends the winners write their name on their ticket and keep it in a safe place. They can either claim their prize in-store, or call the Lotto NZ team and we will take care of them, Marie says.

One of the Auckland MyLotto winners, who wishes to remain anonymous, is a man in his 20s who won on the first ticket he ever purchased.

“It never occurred to me to buy a ticket before,” says the man. “A family member got in touch and encouraged me to get a ticket for the $50 million draw – I never expected to win!”

The man is a musician and the first thing he plans on buying is a guitar. “I really want to buy a new guitar, or maybe even two,” he laughed.

“I also can’t wait to book in some studio time so I can record an album.”

After guitars and recording an album, the man is looking forward to buying his first home and investing in his future.

“I still can’t believe this happened. This win will set me up for life and gives me so many opportunities for the future.”

Another MyLotto winner, who also wishes to remain anonymous, is a tertiary student from Auckland. He started buying Lotto tickets for the first time in July, when the jackpot reached $10 million.

“I received an email on Sunday telling me I was a major prize winner. I just assumed I’d won a third division prize of just over $1,000. It was a big shock I saw ‘winner’ and the numbers $5,023,999 pop up on the screen!”

“I called my mum to tell her, but she ignored my call at first because she was busy. When I finally got through I just said, ‘do you want to hear some great news?’ She assumed I’d done well in an assignment, but then I said ‘I just won $5 million.’”

“He said in a very dead-pan voice – I’ve just won $5 million. It wasn’t what I was expecting to hear but I knew straight away that he wasn’t joking,” laughed the mum.

The winner plans to buy a new laptop and cell phone. He then wants to take some time to get good financial advice. He has plans in the future to buy his first home and is also wanting to gift some money to close family members who have supported him over the years.

There have been 201 Powerball winners since the game was introduced 19 years ago. There have already been 17 Powerball winners in 2020, an increase on 2019 which had 16 in total.

“Kiwis all over the country dream of winning Powerball, and for these ten lucky winners this dream has become a reality. We always love celebrating with winners, but never had so many before, so sharing this time with so many people is pretty special,” says Marie.

Previous Must be Won winners:

• In 2008, five players split the jackpot and took home $6.1 million each
• In 2011, two players split the jackpot and took home $17.4 million each
• In 2013, one player from Auckland took home $33.1 million
• In July 2016, three players split the jackpot and took home $13.3 million each
• In November 2016 one player from Auckland took home $44.1 million
• In February 2020, two players from Auckland and Hawkes Bay split the historic $50 million jackpot, taking home $25.1 million each.

For more information about Lotto NZ’s results for Saturday’s draw please go to the media releases on MyLotto.co.nz

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