After a week of searching, a Northland woman has come forward to claim MyLotto’s $8.3 million Powerball prize.

The woman, who wishes remain anonymous, had no idea she was holding onto the winning ticket — albeit on her phone — until logging in to MyLotto last night.

“I’d heard that a big prize had been won in Northland over the weekend, but I actually thought it had already been claimed, so I hadn’t bothered checking my ticket yet,” said the woman.

It wasn’t until her daughter called her for a chat that she learned the prize was still unclaimed.

“When she mentioned that my ears pricked up straight away and I thought I better check mine, there was still hope,” laughed the winner.

“After we finished chatting I sat down and opened the Lotto NZ App on my phone. My ticket popped up straight away and all of sudden a whole lot of numbers started being circled! Around and around they went, until all of them lined up in a row,” the winner said.

Unsure what it all meant, the winner called to her husband to come have a look.

“I really thought I must be seeing things and when my husband looked at the ticket didn’t believe it either. We just couldn’t get our heads around it,” said the winner.

Despite being unsure whether they really had won, the woman filled in the online paperwork and went to bed.

It wasn’t until the winner received a phone call from Lotto NZ’s head office this morning that she had that winning feeling.

“When the lady on the other end said that she was calling from Lotto, the reality of it all hit me – I wasn’t dreaming! It was a huge rush of emotion,” said the winner.

After letting her husband know that they really had become millionaires, the couple rang their kids to tell them the good news.

“It was very emotional. They know how hard we work, so they couldn’t be happier for us.”

With the excitement of the win still fresh in their minds, the couple are going to take their time to think about what they do next.

“Our family is hugely important to us, so our main priority is to make the lives of our kids and grandkids a bit more comfortable.

“It’s only right to celebrate though, so a family holiday to islands could be on the cards as well.”

The $8.3 million winning ticket was sold on MyLotto for the Lotto draw on Wednesday 4 April. The prize is made up of $333,333 from Lotto First Division and $8 million from Powerball First Division.

Background

This is the second largest Powerball prize ever won in Northland and the first time a Northland player has won big with Powerball on MyLotto.

This is the 10th time a Powerball First Division winning ticket has been sold on MyLotto. The largest Powerball prize ever sold on MyLotto saw an Ashburton couple take home $22 million in April 2016. The couple planned on using some their winnings to have their dream wedding.

ENDS

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