Wedding bells for $22.2 million Ashburton MyLotto winners

Ashburton MyLotto players are in celebration mode after winning $22.2 million with Powerball First Division on Saturday.

The winners, who wish to remain anonymous, purchased their winning ticket online at MyLotto.co.nz with just minutes to spare on Saturday evening.

“We were cooking dinner when I suddenly remembered that I hadn’t picked up a ticket for the draw, so I raced to my laptop and quickly grabbed a ticket on MyLotto. Luckily I managed to get in just in time,” said the winner.

Despite hearing that a lucky Ashburton player had scooped a $22.2 million prize, it took the winner a couple of days before he remembered to check his ticket.

“We had a really busy weekend so it just didn’t cross my mind. I ended up checking the ticket first thing in the morning when my fiancé and the kids were still in bed.

“I watched as each of the winning numbers were circled off on my ticket – they just kept coming. I couldn’t believe it when I saw I had all the right Lotto numbers – and then came the Powerball!” the winner said.

When he realised just how much they’d won, the winner only had one thought on his mind – sharing the good news with his fiancé.

“He thumped up the stairs screaming ‘Come here! You’ve got to come look at this’,” explained his fiancé.

“My mind started racing, trying to work out what might have happened – he sounded so worried. So the kids and I rushed downstairs to see what was going on – and that’s when he showed me our winning ticket.

“We all just stood there staring, totally stunned. None of us could believe what we were seeing.”

But it didn’t take long for the couple to begin planning what they would do with their winnings – beginning with a long-awaited wedding.

“We’ve been engaged for around six years now, but have been so busy with jobs and the kids that our wedding has taken a backseat. So that’s one of the first things we’re going to tick off the list – getting hitched in style!” said the winner.

“Other than that, we’re still working out what we’re going to do. The plan is to sit down with a bottle of wine on Friday night and get dreaming! It’s unreal to think that almost anything we want to do is possible now.”

While the winners are looking forward to splashing out on a few special things, they want to make sure their good fortune benefits the whole community.

“We know how lucky we are to have won, so really want to make sure we help people with our winnings – we’re going to set our kids up, help our families and give some back to our local community. We can’t wait,” the winner said.

The winning ticket was sold online at MyLotto.co.nz. This is the largest prize won by a MyLotto player and the largest Powerball prize ever won in the South Island.

This is the single largest Powerball prize won so far this year and it’s the fourth time that the top Powerball prize has been won in 2016 – meaning there are now four more millionaires in New Zealand.

Background

Winning on MyLotto
MyLotto.co.nz, Powerball First Division prizes:

New Zealand’s largest Powerball prizes
All time

ENDS

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