Big Wednesday Winners Looking for Olympic Gold

An Auckland family might be winging their way to the London Olympics thanks to winning Big Wednesday’s top prize of $11.4 million.

The couple, who have three young children and wish to remain anonymous, play Lotto and Big Wednesday every week with the same numbers.

The recently unemployed woman was looking for jobs online when she saw a news story saying ‘Big Wednesday won in Auckland’.

“When I saw the winning numbers, I knew straight away we had two or three but I didn’t think we’d have the whole lot. So I started cleaning the house instead.

“But it was in the back of my mind, so after a couple of hours I thought ‘I might just check our ticket’.

“When I saw all of our numbers were there I started screaming and shaking – the neighbours must have thought I was dying! I rang my partner at work – and he thought I was dying! He couldn’t understand a word I was saying I was screaming so much,” laughed the woman.

The couple are part of a tight-knit family, but couldn’t afford the plane tickets for all of them to come to the NZ Lotteries’ office in Wellington to claim their prize.

“We’re big sports fans and we were dreaming this year about how great it would be to go to the Olympics and watch our New Zealand athletes win gold. Our dream of going to the Olympics may well come true – flying business class of course!”

The couple have been renting their whole lives and are looking forward to buying their own home and supporting their children’s education.

While the Auckland woman’s search for a job can go on hold for a while, her partner will continue to work at his regular job, “but I may have more of a smile on my face when I go in the morning”.

The winning ticket was sold at Royal Oak Mall Lotto in Auckland.

New Zealand’s latest millionaires take home the fourth biggest prize in Big Wednesday’s history after a $36 million Big Wednesday win in Masterton in 2009, and two $12 million Big Wednesday wins in Thames and Wellington in 2006.

And there may be more millionaires in New Zealand this Saturday, as Lotto Powerball has jackpotted to $22 million.

ENDS

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