West Auckland Family Pact Sees Them Split $5 Million Prize

A West Auckland couple have stayed true to their word and given half of their $5 million Powerball prize to family members.

The couple, who wish to remain anonymous, made the pact with two other family members many years ago, and there was no question that they would stay committed to it.

“We’ve always said that if one of us won Lotto, we’d share it,” said the woman. “So there was no question in our mind when we found out we’d won we would split the prize.”

The couple have kept $2.5 million and gifted the rest to two close family members.

The couple knew they had won Second Division Powerball on Saturday night, but shock and excitement kicked in on Sunday morning when they found out the $50 million prize had rolled down and there were 10 lucky winners.

“Our family came over and I cooked everyone a ‘Millionaires Breakfast,” laughed the woman. “We had bacon, eggs, hash browns and mushrooms – it was the best Sunday breakfast ever!” she said.

The family then headed to Lincoln Heights Superette, where they purchased the ticket, to confirm their win and claim their prize.

“I nearly passed out when they told us it was $5 million,” said the man. “I had to sit down, I was struggling to talk. It was an overwhelming experience – it’s hard to explain,” he said.

The couple, who are in their 40s and have children, said the money will mean they can fulfil their dream of buying their first home.

“We can now have a home that is truly ours – and that is something we never thought would be possible. We have been trying to buy our own home for years but haven’t been able to do it – this is a dream come true,” said the woman.

“Once settled into our home we want to have a big family BBQ to celebrate this amazing win,” she said.

“I am already picturing sitting in my own home in front of a fireplace drinking a nice glass of port,” said the man. “But what I am excited about most is that we can get two puppies as we’ve always wanted to have pet dogs, but not been able to because 
we’ve always rented.”

The couple are also planning to go on a belated honeymoon, when the time is right.

“We got married a few years ago but couldn’t afford to go on a honeymoon at the time – so when we can, we really want to travel overseas. The UK is on our bucket list as we’ve always wanted to visit Scotland and Ireland,” said the man.

The couple are also avid fundraisers and do a lot to help charities close to their hearts.

“We’ve always done a lot of fundraising for charities and we really want to continue to do that as it is really important to us,” said the woman.

“We raised over $1,000 for the Breast Cancer Foundation recently and next on the list is Prostate Cancer Foundation. It makes us feel good to know we’re making a difference,” she said.

The winning ticket was sold on at Lincoln Heights Superette for the $50 million Must Be Won draw on Saturday 15 August 2020.

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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