“We saw in the Waikato Times that the prize was unclaimed last week – but we just assumed it had been won by someone who’d been in town for Field Days, we never even dreamed it was us,” said one of the winners, who wish to remain anonymous.
“I only checked my tickets at the store on a whim – when the ticket checker said I had the top prize I just went “Oh s**t”! Chris, who runs the Lotto store, was great, he made me sit down and gave me a cup of coffee while I recovered from the shock,” said the winner.
What’s more, the win almost never happened – “I was heading out for a run and my wife said to me “don’t stop at the wine store and don’t buy a lottery ticket”, so I ran on past the Lotto store. But then I decided ‘stuff it’ and doubled back to the store and bought my Big Wednesday ticket – she’s pretty happy that I didn’t listen to her ... this time anyway!” laughed the winner.
“The elation you feel when you win is incredible, that and sheer disbelief that it’s really happening. But when you realise that things like the mortgage will now be completely gone, it’s an amazing feeling,” said the winner.
The winners have a few ideas on how to put their winnings to use but are adamant they will keep working – “I love working, people need a reason to get out of bed in the morning,” said the winner.
The Big Wednesday First Division prize package, sold at Hamilton East Stationery & Lotto, is worth a total of $4,740,060, made up of $3 million cash, an Audi R8, a Porsche Cayenne, a $250,000 Platinum VISA card, a $250,000 cash prize towards luxury travel, a Four Winns V258 boat, and a $750,000 cash prize towards a bach.
Meanwhile, NZ Lotteries has now received a phone call from a very excited winner who has the winning $13.8 million Lotto Powerball ticket, sold at Magazine City and Lotto in Glenfield, North Shore City. The Powerball winner, who wishes to remain anonymous, has been unable to sleep for four days, since realising they had struck the big one. The Auckland-based winner took their time to claim their prize, as they wished to protect their privacy.
