Christchurch Lotto winner yet to claim prize

Mystery still surrounds the Christchurch winner of last night's $22.6 million Big Wednesday jackpot.

The life-changing ticket has still not been claimed.

It was bought from Pak'nSave Riccarton - one of the luckiest stores in the country, having sold 31 Lotto First Division winning tickets.

People who bought tickets from the store are now being urged to check their numbers as they could be the winners of the third biggest amount in the weekly draw's history.

The prize was made up of of $21,156,874 in cash plus a Lamborghini Gallardo, an Audi Q7, a Rayglass 2200 boat, a $50,000 Visa Platinum Card, $50,000 worth of travel and $675,000 towards a bach.

"I think anyone who bought a ticket at Pak'nSave Riccarton will be checking pretty quickly,'' said Lotto corporate communications manager Emilia Mazur.

"Someone in Christchurch has just won an incredible amount of money.

"We'll give it some time before we start doing our own investigations.

"People who know they've won can take some time to think about things, but with these big wins, they usually collect pretty quickly.''

It is the third biggest prize won with Big Wednesday, which requires selecting the correct six numbers and the right coin toss.

The largest Big Wednesday prize of $36.9m was won by a Masterton family syndicate in 2009, and the second largest prize of $27m was won by a young man in Tauranga in September last year.

This big prize payout begins a week of winning, with Lotto New Zealand ready to give away more than $54m to lucky players - the biggest prize week in the game's history.

Powerball's Must Be Won draw on Saturday will see at least $32m won by one or more lucky Lotto Powerball players.

The Powerball jackpot has increased with sales during the week so far, and the current First Division prize pool now stands at $32m.