Auckland Lotto winners claim two $19.1 million prizes

Friday, 18 October 2019

One of the joint winners of Lotto's mammoth $38 million jackpot purchased their ticket minutes before Wednesday night's draw.

The two winners of the huge Lotto jackpot came forward to claim their $19.1m prizes on Friday afternoon.

'My husband turned to me at 7.22pm and said 'we didn't get a Lotto ticket! You better race down to the dairy and pick one up', but I knew there wouldn't be enough time – so I logged onto MyLotto instead,' one of the winners said..

'I hadn't bought a ticket on MyLotto in quite a while, so needed to find my card and top up my account – I was racing all over the house! I ended up clicking 'buy' with two minutes to spare.'

But it wasn't until the following day after the woman heard two MyLotto players had split the $38m jackpot that she thought to check her ticket.

'When I logged in and saw all six numbers and the Powerball on one line… well, I was sure that I had made a mistake! My husband was at work, so I rushed to find a family member to double check the ticket for me. We both stood there absolutely blown away – it was unbelievable,' said the winner.

She managed to contain her excitement and kept the big news a surprise from her husband until he arrived home from work that evening.

'I stepped through the door and she handed her phone to me straight away,' said the winner's husband.

'I saw MyLotto on the screen, looked at her and said 'we haven't won Lotto, have we?' – then I looked at the ticket and saw $19,142,857 stamped across it. There were a few tears from both of us after that!'

The joint winner's of this week's $38 million Lotto Powerball jackpot have stepped forward to claim their prizes.

Meanwhile, the other lucky winner – a mother from Central Auckland – had her ticket in hand well ahead of time as she plays the same numbers each draw.

'I sat down with the kids a few months ago and we picked a bunch of lucky numbers that I've been playing ever since,' said the winner.

'They've been pretty lucky over the past few months, winning prizes here and there – nothing big, but good little wins.'

On Wednesday evening, the woman was sitting in the lounge with her daughter when she decided to check her ticket.

'The website was pretty busy, so we decided to check the winning numbers against our lucky numbers ourselves – I play the same numbers each draw, so just pulled them up on my phone,' said the winner.

'As I read out the winning numbers I heard Mum say 'yes, yes, yes…' – they just kept coming. I couldn't believe it! We both started screaming and raced to find my brother to double check what we were seeing,' said the winner's daughter.

After checking and re-checking the winning ticket, it wasn't until the winner saw an email the next day advising that she had a prize to claim that the reality of her windfall began to sink in.

'When I logged into MyLotto and a prize claim form popped up, I started to let myself believe it was true. The whole thing still feels like a dream – I think it will for a while yet,' laughed the winner.

So what is next for the big winners? Both winners are looking forward to setting themselves up for the future and helping family.

Travel is also on the cards for both winners, with the south Auckland couple planning to treat the kids to a family holiday.

'It'll be great to have some quality time together as a family – wherever we end up going, that's the most important thing.'

Meanwhile, the central Auckland mother is treating herself to a luxury holiday before indulging the kids with a family holiday this Christmas.

'I'm going to treat myself to a relaxing island holiday – I'm thinking an overwater bungalow somewhere warm… what better way to celebrate such a life-changing moment?' said the winner.

'After that, I've promised the kids that we'll go somewhere special overseas for Christmas this year. It's not something we've ever been able to do before, so we're all really excited. It will be a Christmas to remember!'

Kirsten Robinson, senior corporate communications manager at Lotto NZ, said there was a lot of excitement around the country in the lead up to the draw 'and we're thrilled that two lucky players have won big with Powerball'.

They weren't the only prizewinners, though. Five Kiwis won $142,857 with Lotto First Division.

Those winning tickets were sold at Countdown Manukau City Mall, New World Southmall and Porchester Road Superette in Auckland, MyLotto in Hawke's Bay, and New World Merrilands in New Plymouth.