Record Must Be Won Powerball Won

Media Release 18 October 2008

Record Must Be Won Powerball Won By Five Second Division Ticket Holders

The record Powerball jackpot prize has been won and the massive prize has been shared with five winners each winning a $6.1 million share of the Must Be Won Powerball prize of over $30 million, with their second division tickets, says NZ Lotteries Chief Executive, Todd McLeay.

The winning tickets were sold at; Manukau Pak 'N Save (Manukau), Onehunga Office Supplies (Auckland), Whitcoulls Cuba Mall (Wellington), J'Mall Lotto (Wellington), and Gold Reef Stationers (Reefton).

The winners won $6,146,881 with Powerball Second Division, and also won a $22,133 share of Lotto Second Division, giving them a grand total of $6,169,014.

With Powerball reaching the Must Be Won threshold of $30 million, and there were no Powerball First Division winners, Powerball Second Division winners share the more than $30 million prize pool.

We recommend anyone who bought a ticket at any of these winning stores to check it immediately and if they are the lucky winner to get in touch with us on (04) 802 7000 and we can advise on the next steps to take, says Mr McLeay.

We encourage all large prize winners to visit us in Wellington to claim their prize where we can protect their privacy and can also counsel them on the impact of winning such a life changing sum of money, he said.

The previous largest Powerball jackpot was $19.3 million in September 2003. This was a Must Be Won week, as the jackpot had reached the previous maximum threshold of $15 million. As it was not won by First Division, it reverted to Second Division, where it was won by 14 winners who picked up $1.378 million each.

New Zealanders turned out in their millions this week with more than 3.5 million tickets sold for Lotto, Powerball and Strike in this weeks big draw. This is a record breaking sales week for NZ Lotteries, with more than three times as many tickets sold than in an average week, generating $33 million in sales.

About 20 cents in every dollar spent on Lotto is returned back to good community causes through the NZ Lottery Grants Board and 50 cents is paid out in prize monies. In 21 years, NZ Lotteries has returned more than $2.5 billion to sporting, arts, cultural, heritage and community groups through the NZ Lottery Grants Board, says Mr McLeay.

In addition, 10 lucky players won $303,282 with Lotto First Division tonight. The winning tickets were sold at Paper Plus Kaitaia, Countdown Eastgate Lotto in Christchurch, Pak N Save Dunedin Lotto Kiosk, Kirby's Candies and Lotto in Wellington, Woolworths Kilbirnie in Wellington, Inner City Post & Lotto in Palmerston North, Lindsay's Lotto Post & More in Wanganui, Whitcoulls New Lynn in Auckland, Kepa Road Superette in Auckland and Pak N Save Sylvia Park in Auckland.

Strike Four was also not struck and jackpots to $1.2 million next week.

Tonights other big winner was Franz Gurnick from Thames who won $100,000 on Lottos Winning Wheel.

All Lotto players are automatically in the draw to win the opportunity to spin Lottos Winning Wheel, regardless of the type of ticket they buy. Players can check their ticket at any lottery outlet.

Tonights Winning Wheel ticket was sold at Take Note in Petone, Wellington, with the serial number 146-60177010-20XX.

Anyone who bought a ticket at any of these winning retailers should write their name on the back of the ticket and check it as soon as possible at any NZ Lotteries outlet," Mr McLeay says.

There were over 140,000 winners in this weeks draw.

Unfortunately, the live draw was delayed for half an hour due to a rare technical issue with the Lotto Powerball draw machine.

Ends

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