$16 million Easter treat for Auckland woman

Forget chocolate — an Auckland woman has unwrapped the ultimate Easter treat after scoring $16.2 million with Powerball in last night’s Lotto draw.

The winner, who wishes to remain anonymous, is a regular MyLotto player and only found out this morning she was New Zealand’s latest multimillionaire.

“I was up bright and early this morning sorting some things out in the kitchen when I heard on the radio that someone from Auckland had won $16.25 million last night and they bought their ticket online,” said the woman.

Remembering that she had yet to check her ticket, the woman finished what she was doing then pulled out the laptop and sat at the kitchen table to check her ticket.

“I logged into MyLotto and the draw started straight away. As each ball dropped, a number was circled on my ticket. When it got to the fourth number, I thought ‘No way’, but they just kept coming — it was unbelievable!” said the woman

With all six numbers and the Powerball number all circled on one line, the woman knew she had won the big one.

“I immediately jumped up from the table and started dancing around the room. I was laughing and crying at the same time — I didn’t know what to do with myself,” said the woman.

With tears rolling down her cheeks, the woman frantically tried to call her husband to let him know the life-changing news.

“I think I might have called him about ten times, but he wasn’t picking up,” said the woman.

Finally answering his phone, the woman asked her husband if he was sitting down before telling them that they were now $16 million richer.

“When I told him what had happened, he didn’t believe me. It was such a shock to the system. He wanted to come home and see it for himself,” the woman laughed.

Jumping in the car, the woman’s husband raced home to be with his wife.

“I pulled into the driveway and started tooting the horn expecting her to come running out, but she didn’t come,” said the man.

Instead, the woman’s husband was greeted with an unusual sight as he entered into the lounge.

“I was so excited and had all this energy — I wanted to calm myself down before my husband got home. So I decided to grab the exercycle put in front of telly and start peddling,” laughed the woman.

Meeting with a happy embrace, the woman and her husband checked the ticket one more time before heading into Lotto NZ’s Head Office to claim their prize.

With the winnings safely in their bank account ahead of the long Easter weekend, the couple are taking the time to let everything sink in.

“This is completely life-changing for us. We’re going to invest most, help out friends and family and give to charity,” said the winner.

“Oh, and we’ll do some travel too… actually we could probably go to the Rugby World Cup now!”

The winning ticket was purchased on MyLotto for the Lotto draw on Wednesday 17 April. This is the sixth Powerball win this year and the third Powerball win sold on MyLotto.

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Powerball First Division wins in 2019

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