Media Release                                                                      

6 October 2009

Auckland Multi-Millionaires on Cloud 9

A shocked Auckland couple turned up at New Zealand Lotteries’ offices in Wellington today to claim their $22.4 million Powerball prize.

The couple, who wish to remain anonymous, made a special trip to Manukau Pak N Save on Saturday.  “We were in the area anyway, as we wanted to check out some pillows at the Cloud 9 factory shop, but my husband then insisted we stop at that supermarket to buy a Lotto ticket,” the winning wife said.

The husband says he just had a feeling that he should get his Triple Dip ticket from that shop.
The couple then heard on the radio at 7.00 am the next morning that the big prize had been won from Manukau.  

“I thought ‘oh my God’”, said the husband, “but we did not actually check the ticket until the afternoon.  We must have read those numbers 999 times before we believed that we were the big winners.  It takes a while to sink in.”

The man then kept the $22.4 million winning ticket in his glove box for two days, before transferring it to his wallet to make the trip to Wellington.

The couple plan to both keep working in the meantime, before sorting out their future plans.

However, they plan to make some donations to charities and help out family.   “We have always supported some good causes, but now we can just add a few noughts to our cheques,” the husband joked.

One of the first causes they plan to support is disaster relief in Samoa.  “Like all New Zealanders we have been really upset watching what has happened in the Pacific, and we really want to help out there first,” they said.

Their winning ticket was purchased at Manukau Pak 'N’ Save, Manukau City, and is worth a total of $22,434,379 – with $22,206,973 from Powerball First Division and $227,406 from Lotto First Division.  This is the biggest-ever Powerball prize won in NZ Lotteries’ history.

Manukau Pak ‘N’ Save has sold 13 First Division Lotto prizes, and now one Powerball First Division.

Ends

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