26 April 2019

A young couple from Auckland are celebrating after winning $5.3 million with Powerball First Division on Wednesday night.

The couple, who wish to remain anonymous, bought their winning ticket on a whim just before the live Lotto draw on Wednesday night.

“I don’t know why, but something just popped into my mind telling me to buy a ticket, so I jumped onto MyLotto and bought a Dip – then forgot all about it,” said the man.

While his lucky numbers were drawn just over an hour later, the winner had no idea Powerball had been won until the following morning – let alone that he had the lucky ticket.

“The first thing I did when I woke up was check my emails and I saw one from MyLotto saying that I had a prize to claim. I know you need to claim any prize over $1,000 so thought I must have won just over that – I was pretty stoked,” the man said.

“Then I logged into MyLotto and saw $5,333,333 stamped across the top of my ticket and I didn’t know what to think! I thought it might be the jackpot or something – until I saw all the numbers circled on one line of my ticket.”

“He turned to me and said ‘something’s happened’ and handed me the phone,” said the man’s partner.

“Even with the numbers circled off, I couldn’t believe it – I was sure he was joking or had gotten something mixed up,” she laughed.

After checking and re-checking the ticket throughout the morning, the couple decided to call Lotto NZ’s head office and confirm their prize once and for all.

“It wasn’t until they told us that we really had won $5.3 million that we began to believe it – we kind of still don’t believe it to be honest,” said the man.

The couple celebrated with lunch out – complete with bubbles – before calling their family to share the good news.

“When I spoke to my Dad, he was so relaxed about it! He just said ‘oh yeah?’ then continued to tell me about what he had planned for the rest of the day,” laughed the man.

“Mum’s reaction was the complete opposite – I told her to sit down, then told her the good news. She was beside herself with excitement, screaming and cheering. Classic Mum and Dad.”

With the winnings now safely in their bank account, the couple are looking forward to enjoying their prize.

“It’s still hard to believe, but we have a good idea of what we want to do – we used to always talk about we’d do if we won Powerball, so now we can start ticking things off the list.

“We know we want to help out our families and buy our first-home – we’re really excited to finally be able to achieve that one! Other than that, we want to make sure we really set ourselves up for the future – although, I think I might treat myself to a new car and boat too,” laughed the man.

The winning ticket was sold online at MyLotto.co.nz for the draw on Wednesday 24 April.

This is the seventh time Powerball First Division has been struck so far this year.
Background
Powerball First Division wins in 2019

ENDS

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