Hastings in top 10 winners list

Hawkes Bay Today

15 Jan, 2016 12:04 AM3 mins to read

Hastings came in sixth on the list of 78 places where the most Lotto spoils have landed.

Hastings has come in sixth on the list of 78 places, per capita of population, where the most Lotto spoils have landed.

Figures released by the Lotteries Commission show that the total prizemoney picked up in the city last year would equate to every resident getting $151.83.

That was way ahead of Napier, where the total big Lotto wins would equate to each resident taking away $62.45.

Taupo came in 47th, Wairoa District 57th and Central Hawke's Bay 62nd.

One of the reasons for Hastings' seemingly ongoing lucky run is the record racked up by Unichem Stortford Lodge Pharmacy.

"Hastings does do very well out of it, and that's great to see," the store's Lotto manager Nanette Woodham said.

"Peter (Dunkerley) was in on it from day one and sold some big winning tickets, so that put us on the map and it has continued to trickle on through," she said.

"So with our reputation we are right up there, and we're also on the tourist map as a lot of visitors call in to get their tickets as they see us as the luckiest Lotto shop."

Topping the big list though is Westland District, which has a population of just 8640, and was helped into the number one spot after a big $6.5 million Powerball win back in January last year.

Per capita of population, when added to other big wins in the region, every person there would receive $799.10.

Rotorua came in second with a per capita payout of $418.7 and Porirua City was third with $348.68.

It appears Lady Luck has a soft spot for the South Island, as Kaikoura was 2014's luckiest.

For big prizes it was a big year - with the Powerball First Division picked up a record 13 times during 2015.

One of those was an $8 million payout for a First Division Powerball ticket sold at Unichem Stortford Lodge last September.

That win pushed the outlet's total in big prize wins to $47 million and underlined its position as the "luckiest Lotto shop in the land".

It was also the seventh Lotto First Division ticket sold in Hawke's Bay up to that point - which equated to $5,856,224 in winnings.

The most talked about Lotto story of the year boosted Porirua's top three lucky standing.

In December a Porirua man won $15 million and gifted half of it to his best mate.

"I really wanted to surprise him, so I handed him a photocopy of my winning ticket and the slip of paper with $15 million printed on it," the winner said at the time.

"He looked at the paper, then at me with his mouth hanging open, pointing at the piece of paper.

"I just gave him the thumbs-up and said, 'I won the big one and half of it's yours'."

TOP 10 WINNING DISTRICTS:

1: Westland District - $799.10 (per capita population)

2: Rotorua District - $418.97

3: Porirua City - $348.68

4: Thames-Coromandel - $285.30

5: Franklin Ward - $221.14

6: Hastings District - $151.83

7: Tauranga City - $150.99

8: Nelson City - $132.23

9: Palmerston North City - $128.94