Last minute decision sees Northlander win $4.25m with Lotto, Powerball

A last minute decision to buy a ticket on line paid off for a Northland woman who won $4.25 million with Lotto and Powerball First Division.

The woman, who wants to remain anonymous, couldn't quite believe her eyes when she discovered she was New Zealand's newest multi-millionaire.

The winner said she picks up a ticket on MyLotto every now and then when she remembers.

The stars aligned last Wednesday when she remembered to grab herself a ticket just minutes before sales closed on MyLotto.

"It was about 7.15pm when I remembered it was a Lotto draw night, so I quickly logged in and bought a ticket," said the woman.

What any Lotto player would love to see on their MyLotto account - a big win. A Northland woman won $4.25M with Lotto and Powerball First Division last Wednesday.

Not thinking any more of it, the woman carried on with her night and it wasn't until the next morning when she saw she had an email from MyLotto that she realised she might have won something.

"When I received the email saying that I had a prize to claim, I thought I must have won something small," she said.

"So when logged in I was pretty shocked to see I'd won $4250 – then I looked again and saw all the zeroes and commas at the end and thought 'oh my goodness, it's a bit more than that'," the woman said.

After celebrating her windfall with fish and chips on the beach with her family, the winner decided to take a few days to let the win settle in before making any decisions.

"It definitely felt more real when we saw the money in our bank account – this win is going to set us up for life," said the woman.

"It's an amazing feeling to know that we'll be able to help our family out and make a real difference in their lives too. I feel very lucky and want to make the most of it."

The winning ticket was sold on MyLotto for the draw on Wednesday, March 24, and was the eighth Powerball win this year.

The last Powerball First Division win in Northland was in May 2019, when Taipa Foodmarket sold a $5.5 million winning ticket.