Two Millionaires In One Day With Instant Kiwi

Two lucky players became millionaires just 17 minutes apart on Monday in Lotto NZ’s biggest day ever for Instant Kiwi.

“This is a first in the game’s history – we’ve never before made two people millionaires from Instant Kiwi in a single day,” said Lotto NZ’s Head of Corporate Communications, Will Hine.

“To put this into perspective, two Instant Kiwi players have won million dollar prizes in the past two years, so to have another two joining them within the space of an hour is remarkable.”

A couple were the first Monday millionaires after claiming their prize at New World Waitaki in Ōamaru, where they had bought the ticket two days earlier.

The couple say they are over the moon and still in shock.

“We went to pick up some groceries and I bought a ticket at the same time. On the way home my wife wanted to go and see the penguins, so we made a little detour,” said the man.

“She got out to go and watch the penguins arrive, and I scratched our ticket in the car.”

The man realised straight away that he had won and quickly put the ticket away as his wife came back to their car.

“We drove home, and I went straight to our room and put the ticket under our mattress – I wanted to be sure it was a winner before I told anyone!”

Over the next couple of days, the man couldn’t stop thinking about the winning ticket tucked away under their mattress.

“It was all I could think about, every time we got home, the first thing I did was check it was still where I’d left it,” he laughed.

On Monday, the man told his wife they needed to pick up something from the supermarket, so they drove back to the shop.

“I told her I’d only be a minute, but it was about an hour before I returned, and as I walked back to the car I could see she was not happy with me,” the man joked.

“So I held up the claim form and the little receipt that had $1,000,000 stamped on it and told her we had won.

“She burst into tears and kept saying ‘is this real? Are you joking me?’”

To celebrate, the couple grabbed a Maccas and headed back down to watch the penguins and talk about their win.

“That’s where it started, down by those penguins, so it felt right to go back there. We chatted about our future and the difference this win will make in our lives.

“It means we can buy a home for our family, and that feels wonderful, we feel so blessed.”

Just 17 minutes after the first winner claimed their prize, another call came through to Lotto NZ’s headquarters – there was another Instant Kiwi millionaire, this time a family on the North Island.

The woman and her family had picked up their ticket at Woodys Winners in Wellsford while on the way to visit family for the school holidays.

“My husband saw all the ‘big winner’ signs up at the store and said we should grab a ticket for the Powerball draw. When he came back out I saw he’d also bought a scratchie.”

The family carried on north on their journey, only remembering the tickets the following day.

“I scratched the ticket from right to left, so the zeroes showed up first, and when I saw it was a million I was speechless.

“We told our family and celebrated with a glass of bubbles – everyone was so happy for us.”

“Later that night in bed, I remembered the ticket was in my handbag, which was in the lounge, so I quickly got up and brought my bag to the bedroom – and slept with it right by my bed,” laughed the woman.

The woman claimed their prize the next day at Ruakākā Lotto Post & Gift Shop in Ruakākā.

The family are going to use the money to pay a chunk off their mortgage and invest for their future.

Instant Kiwi top prizes won between 11-14 April

Notes:

• Monday’s Instant Kiwi millionaires were the 18th and 19th Lotto NZ millionaires for 2025 so far.
• The winners would like to remain anonymous and do not wish to provide any further comment at this stage.
• The two $1 million prizes were won on two different Instant Kiwi tickets – Mega Million and Millionaire Riches. Full information about the tickets is available at https://mylotto.co.nz/instant-kiwi/instore-games
• Four other lucky players across New Zealand have won the top prize available on a ticket since Friday (see table above).

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