Lotto jackpot: New Plymouth woman's trip for milk bags $7.3m

A New Plymouth woman's trip to a local store to pick up milk has bagged her family $7.3 million.

Her family are still coming to terms with the jackpot after winning Powerball First Division last week.

The woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, was on her way home from work on May 27 when she popped into The Store Westown to buy some milk and decided to grab a Lotto ticket.

"Mum and I normally alternate buying tickets each Wednesday – it was her turn to buy it that week, but for some reason, I just bought another while I was there," said the woman.

The family didn't watch the draw on Wednesday and went to work as normal the next day.

"Mum sent me a message saying there had been a Powerball winner in New Plymouth and I should check my ticket.

"She didn't say which shop it was sold at – I was sure it wouldn't be my ticket," said the woman.

Later that evening, the woman popped into a Lotto shop to check her ticket.

"I put through my Strike ticket first and won $73 which I was pretty stoked with," she said.

What she didn't know, was that the Powerball ticket she was about to hand over, would be worth more than 100,000 times more.

"The Lotto operator was really relaxed about it all and that helped me to stay calm too, but I soon found out the reason he was calm was because he thought it was only $7333," she said.

"I was just standing there, staring in disbelief at him and the ticket, I couldn't believe what was happening. I was just going through the motions when I was filling in the Prize Claim form, maybe I was in a bit of shock. It has all been pretty surreal."

After claiming her prize, the woman drove home and shared the news with her mum.

"Mum was in shock and she asked to see the paperwork. I showed it to her, and she kept looking at it and back at me in utter disbelief."

The woman's partner and father were still at work, so she sent a text asking them to come home straight away.

"I didn't want them to think that anything was wrong, so I told them not to worry, everyone was okay, but that we had some news to share. We couldn't wait to tell them," said the woman.

"When they arrived home and I told them - they thought I was pulling their leg and didn't believe me. They said let's see the paperwork, so I showed them the form and a few moments later they were all smiling. It turned into a really special night with our family."

The family are looking forward to their future and planning to use the win to build their dream home.

"We are down-to-earth Kiwis and we've worked hard for everything we have. This win won't change us, it just gives us the financial security to support our family and enables us to help others."

The woman said, when she is able, she'd love to treat herself to a shopping trip in Melbourne and her partner already has his heart set on buying his dream "Sunday car".

"We'd also love to go on an overseas family holiday, but for now we're talking about having a really special New Zealand holiday to celebrate our win."

Lotto said 22 millionaires had already been made in the first 22 weeks of the year with Lotto, Powerball and Strike – including six multi-millionaires.