A Timaru couple got the surprise of their life on Saturday night when their regular Lotto ticket purchase turned into a life-changing win.
The couple, who wish to remain anonymous, won $7.25 million with Powerball First Division on Saturday night.
“My husband was watching the Lotto draw while I was mucking around on the iPad,” the winner said.
“Then all of a sudden he looked up from the ticket and he just had this strange look on his face, so the first thing I said was ‘what’s wrong?’
“That’s when he said ‘we’ve just got First Division’ and handed me the ticket to look at. I must admit I nearly went mad,” the winner said.
“We called our kids into the room and we were all checking and double-checking the ticket to make sure we had it right.
“But of course we had no idea how much we’d won, so we had to wait half an hour for the final results to come up on MyLotto.
“When we saw that there was only one winner of $7.25 million – well, that’s when we really started celebrating.
“We were hugging each other and jumping around the lounge, there were even a few tears.
“Then we all took turns taking photos with the ticket.”
Despite their best efforts, the couple did not manage to get much sleep that night – or since.
Heading into their local Lotto shop a little bit bleary-eyed, the couple were able to hand over their ticket and get that official confirmation that they are now millions of dollars richer.
While the win is starting to sink in, along with looking forward to getting some shut-eye, the couple are starting to think about how they might want to spend their windfall.
“We’ve been talking about a new car, or maybe a new house – but it’s really the things that money can’t buy we’re most excited about, like time with family,” the winner said.
“As a family we can now make some decisions that will set us up for the future, while meaning we can spend time together and create more special memories.”
The winning ticket was sold at Countdown Church Street in Timaru for Saturday night’s Lotto draw.
This is the largest Powerball prize ever won in South Canterbury, following a Powerball win of $7 million by a Timaru family in January 2016 .
