A New Plymouth family are still coming to terms with winning $7.3 million with Powerball First Division last week.
The woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, was on her way home from work when she popped into The Store Westown to buy
some milk and decided to grab a Lotto ticket at the same time.
“Mum and I normally alternate buying tickets each Wednesday – it was her turn to buy it that week, but for some reason,
I just bought another while I was there,” said the woman.
The family didn’t watch the draw on Wednesday and went to work as normal on Thursday.
“Mum sent me a message saying there had been a Powerball winner in New Plymouth and I should check my ticket.”
“She didn’t say which shop it was sold at – I was sure it wouldn’t be my ticket,” said the woman.
Later that evening, the woman popped into a Lotto shop to check her ticket. “I put through my Strike ticket first and
won $73 which I was pretty stoked with,” said the woman.
What she didn’t know, was that the Powerball ticket she was about to hand over, would be worth over one hundred-thousand
times more!
“The Lotto operator was really relaxed about it all and that helped me to stay calm too, but I soon found out the reason
he was calm was because he thought it was only $7,333,” laughed the woman.
“I was just standing there, staring in disbelief at him and the ticket, I couldn’t believe what was happening. I was
just going through the motions when I was filling in the Prize Claim form, maybe I was in a bit of shock. It has all
been pretty surreal.”
After claiming her prize, the woman drove home and shared the news with her mum.
“Mum was in shock and she asked to see the paperwork. I showed it to her, and she kept looking at it and back at me in
utter disbelief.”
The woman’s partner and Dad were still at work, so she sent a text asking them to come home straight away.
“I didn’t want them to think that anything was wrong, so I told them not to worry, everyone was ok, but that we had some
news to share. We couldn’t wait to tell them,” said the woman.
“When they arrived home and I told them - they thought I was pulling their leg and didn’t believe me. They said let’s
see the paperwork, so I showed them the form and a few moments later they were all smiling. It turned into a really
special night with our family.”
The family are looking forward to their future and are planning to use the win to build their dream home.
“We are down-to-earth Kiwis and we’ve worked hard for everything we have. This win won’t change us, it just gives us the
financial security to support our family and enables us to help others.”
The woman said, when she is able, she’d love to treat herself to a shopping trip in Melbourne and her partner already
has his heart set on buying his dream “Sunday car”.
“We’d also love to go on an overseas family holiday, but for now we’re talking about having a really special New Zealand
holiday to celebrate our win.”
This year is on an incredible run of luck, 22 millionaires have been made in the first 22 weeks of the year with Lotto,
Powerball and Strike – including six multi-millionaires.
The winning ticket was sold at The Store Westown in New Plymouth for the Lotto Draw on Wednesday 27 May.
Powerball First Division wins in 2020:DatePrizeStoreLocation29 February$25.1 millionCountdown Manukau City MallAuckland$25.1 millionMyLottoAuckland14 March$7.5 millionRedwood Mini MarketChristchurch18 April$13.2 millionMyLottoManawatu – Whanganui13 May$10.3 millionMyLottoHamilton27 May$7.3 millionThe Store WestownNew Plymouth