The woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, is a regular Lotto player and chose her own Lotto numbers for the Powerball draw on Saturday, December 29. She was at home on the evening of the draw and thought she might as well check her ticket against the results on MyLotto.
“As I checked each number and one by one saw they matched the ones on my ticket… well, it was truly a surreal experience,” she said.
“I was at home by myself and I was so excited, but I also started crying - I felt so overwhelmed."
She immediately called her brother, but it was a bad phone line and she wasn’t able to get the news out. She then called her mother who was immediately focussed on the practicalities.
“When Mum picked up the phone I burst out ‘Mum I’ve won $17 million!’, and my Mum said, ‘That is a lot of money!’ and then immediately started giving me advice on how to invest it - she knows a lot about finance and had some good ideas.”
The next day the winner was travelling on an Auckland bus and saw the news pop up on the bus TV screen that an Aucklander had won the big prize.
“I was like - that is me! And I just had to keep telling myself to keep it cool, but I had a big smile on my face."
She decided to take the ticket in person to Lotto NZ’s head office when it reopened in the new year, rather than claim her prize over the phone or in store over the Christmas period.
“I was very nervous waiting to hand the ticket over!” she said. Then followed the bus ride of her life, with the ticket closely guarded the whole way.
With her prize safely claimed and no longer needing to worry about losing her lucky yellow ticket, the woman is looking forward to helping out her family and investing the money for her future.
“I haven’t been sleeping since I found out about my win, I woke up this morning at 4am! I’m looking forward to getting a good rest and am so excited for the future - this win is truly going to be life-changing.”
The winning ticket was sold at Victoria Street Lotto & Newsagency and is made up of 17 million from Powerball First Division and $200,000 from Lotto First Division.
The draw on December 29 was the 21st and final time that Lotto Powerball was struck in 2021.
