Palmerston North is on a winning streak and there’s one store that’s been particularly lucky lately – do you buy your
lucky yellow tickets there?
Melody’s New World has sold three big winning tickets in just three months and two of those were Powerball First
Division tickets!
Store Representative, Morgan Melody says they have never been busier.
“We’ve always had our regular customers who have been buying their tickets from us since Lotto opened in the store, but
since these big wins, we’re definitely busier!”
After selling four Second Division tickets earlier in the year, the store sold its first ever winning Powerball ticket
in August’s Must Be Won draw. The mammoth $50 million prize was shared between ten lucky winners who each took home just
over $5 million.
“It’s feels incredible to have sold these winning tickets and knowing that it’s going to change people’s lives,” says
Morgan.
“It’s such a close-knit community here, our winners do tend to come back to us to claim their prize, which is always
exciting for us. It’s amazing to know that it’s going to someone in our community.”
More recently, a $14.3 million Powerball ticket sold by the store was claimed by a local woman who bought the ticket
when she went grocery shopping.
The woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, only picks up a ticket a few times a year and grabbed a Triple Dip for the
draw that Wednesday evening.
“I had some change in my pocket, so I thought ‘oh why not, I’ll get a Lotto ticket,’” said the woman.
She checked her ticket after the draw, manually underlining the numbers until she noticed, they all lined up.
“I was pretty shocked to see all of those numbers line up, I just kept saying ‘no way, never me, no chance,’ I really
couldn’t believe it.”
The woman shouted her husband through and showed him the ticket without saying a word – she didn’t need to; he could see
straight away.
“You’ve done it, you’ve gone and done it,” said the woman’s husband.
The pair burst into laughter when they realised their lives had changed forever.
The woman says she has started her bucket list and right at the top is buying their first home and helping a charity
close to their hearts.
“I donate to this charity every year, and it feels amazing to know that this year the donation will be significantly
higher,” said the woman.
A week on from selling their second First Division winning ticket of the year, the store scored a hattrick and sold a
Lotto First Division ticket worth $333,333 – one of two Lotto First Division tickets won in the town, in the same draw,
the other was sold at Pak N Save Palmerston North.
Morgan says there’s now a competition amongst Lotto staff at Melody’s New World, about who’s the luckiest Lotto operator
and who’s going to sell the next big winner.
“Our Lotto staff get really excited when they know we’ve sold a big winning ticket. When we sold the $14.3 million
ticket one of them texted me at 6am just to let me know!” She laughed.
“There’s a bit of healthy competition behind the Lotto counter at the moment – they’re looking forward to seeing who
sells the next big one.”
Background:
Melody’s New World is ranked as the luckiest store in the Manawatu-Whanganui region and the fifth luckiest store in the
country, with 29 First Division Lotto family* wins under its belt.
The winning $5,023,999 ticket was sold for the $50 Million Must Be Won draw on Saturday 15 August 2020.
The winning $14,333,333 ticket was sold for the draw on Wednesday 11 November 2020
The winning $333,333 ticket was sold for the draw on Wednesday 18 November 2020.
*Lotto family is Lotto, Powerball and Strike games.