Auckland Lotto winner plans to buy guitar after scooping $5 million prize

Tuesday, 18 August 2020

Parents worry big lottery wins could end up turning their children lazy. (Video first published February 2020)

A man in his 20s plans to buy a guitar after winning $5 million in Saturday’s record $50 million Lotto jackpot.

Another winner, an Auckland tertiary student, plans to buy a new phone and laptop.

They are among eight of the 10 winners to have already claimed their eye-watering $5.023 million dollar prize from the weekend’s draw.

The prize money consists of a $5 million share from Powerball First Division, $7600 from Powerball Second Division and $16.40 from Lotto Second Division.

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Ten people won more than $5 million each in Saturday’s Lotto draw.

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Six of the winning tickets were sold in Auckland, the other four from Tauranga, Napier, Palmerston North and Invercargill.

The two winners who have not yet come forward purchased their tickets from Andrew Spence Pharmacy in Napier and Collingwood Foodcentre in Invercargill.

Lotto NZ head of communications Marie Winfield said there had never been so many winners in a “must be won” draw before.

“We are absolutely thrilled for all of them.”

One winner, a man in his 20s, planned on using his winnings to buy a new guitar and record an album. (File photo)

The man in his 20s, a musician who didn’t want to be named, said it was the first Lotto ticket he’d ever purchased.

He said a family member convinced him to get a ticket for the big draw, however he never expected to win.

“I really want to buy a new guitar, or maybe even two,” he said.

Also high on his priority list was to book time in a studio to record an album and to get a foot on the property ladder.

“I still can’t believe this happened. This win will set me up for life and gives me so many opportunities for the future.”

Another winner, an Aucklander who purchased his ticket via the MyLotto app, said he started to buy tickets for the first time in July when the jackpot reached $10 million.

When he received an email informing him of his win, he assumed he had won a third division prize of about $1000, and was shocked to see $5,023,999 pop up on his screen.

He phoned his mum to tell her his good news, who assumed he was calling to say he had done well in a university assignment.

“He said in a very deadpan voice ‘I’ve just won $5 million’,” she said.

The student plans to buy a new laptop and phone, before sitting on his winnings, so he can get some good financial advice.

He hoped to buy his first home and gift some money to family to thank them for their support.

While the would-be winners may be “completely oblivious” to their new fortune, Winfield said they could also be “laying low for a while” to let the life-changing news sink in.

She recommended the winners write their name on the ticket and keep it in a safe place, until they could claim their winnings in-store or phone Lotto NZ.

There have been 17 Powerball wins so far this year, compared to a total of 16 wins in 2019.

“Kiwis all over the country dream of winning Powerball, and for these ten lucky winners this dream has become a reality,” Winfield said.

“We always love celebrating with winners, but never had so many before, so sharing this time with so many people is pretty special.”

Earlier, Lotto NZ apologised for an issue with its website’s ticket checking system, which saw ticketholders unable check to see if they had won a share of the jackpot on Sunday. Lotto counters were also closed.

“Announcing the results of last night’s draw took us longer than usual – we’re really sorry to keep our players waiting,” Winfield said on Sunday.

“The delay was because of the sheer volume of tickets purchased for the draw, and the fact that we sold more online tickets than ever before.’’