It was a Saturday night to remember for a Wellington couple who won $8.5 million with Powerball First Division on the weekend.

The man, who wishes to remain anonymous, is a regular Lotto player who has been buying his tickets using a MyLotto Subscription.

“I’ve been buying our tickets using a MyLotto Subscription for a few years now – it’s just really easy and means there’s never a last-minute race to pick up a ticket before the draws,” explained the man.

“As fate would have it, after Wednesday’s draw I received an email from MyLotto saying my Subscription had finished. I didn’t think too much of it, just logged into MyLotto and restarted it right then and there – and I’m so glad I did!” said the man.

The man didn’t think anything more about it until Saturday night when he decided to log in to MyLotto and see if he’d had any luck.

“My wife and I were having a quiet night at home when I thought I might as well check my Lotto ticket,” the man said.

“I logged into MyLotto and watched as my ticket was checked – the numbers started circling off… and they just kept coming, until there they were, all in a row. Initially I thought we’d won $8,500 and thought that was pretty neat.

“I immediately told my wife the good news and she raced over to have a look at the ticket. That’s when she peered at the screen and said, ‘hold on – it’s a bit more than that!’,” the man laughed.

“We just stared at each other wide-eyed before breaking into a huge hug. It was an unbelievable moment,” said the man.

With the reality of their big win still sinking in, the couple spent the rest of the evening celebrating and imagining what they would do with their winnings.

“My wife and I had a couple of drinks that night to celebrate – or to calm the nerves, I don’t actually know which,” laughed the man.

“We sat up all night talking, until we finally headed to bed around 3am. To be honest we only got about an hours’ sleep between us that night, our minds were absolutely buzzing – the whole thing felt so incredibly surreal. It still does, to be honest,” the man said.

With their prize now claimed, the lucky couple are looking forward to setting themselves up for the future and helping their immediate family.

The $8.5 million winning Powerball ticket was sold on MyLotto and was made up of $8 million from Powerball First Division and $500,000 from Lotto First Division.

This is the second Powerball winof 2022 andcomes a fortnight after an Auckland man won $21 million with Powerball.

Powerball wins in 2022

© Scoop Media