Shrushti and Nirav Patel had a celebration of their own after they sold a $5.5 million Lotto ticket at the Taipa Foodmarket, which has now been claimed by a couple from the area.
Shrushti and Nirav Patel had a celebration of their own after they sold a $5.5 million Lotto ticket at the Taipa Foodmarket, which has now been claimed by a couple from the area.
Almost a week after a $5.5 million Powerball prize was won in Taipa, a couple from the area have come forward and claimed the prize – despite knowing they had the winning ticket the whole time.
The winners, who wish to remain anonymous, discovered that their local Lotto store Taipa Foodmarket had sold a big winning ticket bright and early last Thursday morning.
"My husband had gotten up to make us a cup of tea while I read the news in bed," said the wife.
"The first thing I saw was 'Taipa Foodmarket sells $5.5m Powerball prize', so when my husband returned I mentioned it to see whether that's where he'd picked up our ticket that week."
"I was back out of bed straight away to grab the ticket from my wallet," laughed her husband.
It didn't take long for the couple to realise just how lucky their little yellow piece of paper had become.
The winning Lotto and Powerball First Division ticket that earned a Far North couple a cool $5.5 million.
"As I read out the winning numbers, he checked them off on our ticket – he kept saying 'yes… yes… yes…' in quite a monotone voice. I was beginning to wonder what was going on. But when I read out the Powerball number, he looked at me and said 'it's us – we've bloody won it.'"
"That's when she leapt at me from across the bed and we just grabbed each other, shaking. It was unbelievable," the man said.
Remembering that they had a bottle of bubbles tucked away for a special occasion, the lucky winners decided to swap the tea for bubbles instead.
"We couldn't stop staring at each other with these great big silly grins on our faces," the woman said.
Bursting to share the good news, the couple quickly picked up the phone to let their kids in on the news – then tucked their ticket away and got on with life as usual.
"It was all so surreal so we wanted to take some time to get our ducks in a row and our heads around what was going on before we claimed the prize," said the man.
So where did the lucky couple keep their $5.5m winning Powerball ticket for the next six days?
"I tucked it in my underwear drawer of all places – let's be honest, no one is going to go poking around in there," he said.
With the winnings now safely in their bank account, the couple are looking forward to enjoying their prize.
"Sharing the winnings is the most important thing for us – this prize is a gift and we want to share it. We can't wait to help out the kids especially, it's going to make such a difference.
"We're proud Northlanders and love the community we live in. We're really keen to support local businesses and give back to our local community with these winnings – we're really excited about what will be possible," the woman said.
The winning ticket was sold at Taipa Foodmarket for the draw on Wednesday, May 1.
The win wasn't the only Lotto success for the Far North that Wednesday, with two Lotto Second Division winners sold, with one also winning Powerball Second Division.
A ticket sold at Four Square Coopers Beach won its holder $29,048, with Lotto and Powerball Second Division while one sold at Kaeo Four Square won $19,819 with Lotto Second Division.
The wins continue a hot Lotto winning streak in Northland. A winning $1m Lotto First Division ticket was sold at Onerahi Bookshop & Lotto for the April 20 draw.
And a Strike player won $500,000 just three days prior to the latest big winner.
So far this year Northland players have scooped 10 First Division Lotto, Strike, Bullseye and Instant Kiwi wins and 16 Lotto and Powerball Second Division prizes.
