Lottery officials keep family's identity a secret

A large family of "ordinary people" have claimed the biggest lotto prize ever paid out on a single ticket.

The unnamed family, whose identity is being kept strictly secret by NZ Lotteries, successfully lodged their claim in Wellington yesterday for a total of $17,992,975.

The amount is made up of $17,702,362 from Powerball division one and $290,613 from a share of division one winnings.

NZ Lotteries will not give any details of who the winning family are or where they live, other than to say they are from the upper North Island.

"It's all for their privacy. That's important when there are multi-million dollar winners involved and they want to remain anonymous," said communication manager Gabi Tankersley.

The winning ticket was sold by Kaeo Four Square shop in the Far North, owned by Indian brothers Hitendra Patel and Vipin Chand.

Mr Patel said the winners had not claimed their huge prize through his shop which has been selling Lotto only since last December.

NZ Lotteries would not say yesterday whether the winning family had gone to Wellington in person with their ticket, or whether they had claimed their millions through another Lotto outlet after filling in a claim form.

NZ Lotteries deputy chief executive Warren Salisbury said the "stunned" winners told Lotto officials they had reacted in low key Kiwi fashion - deciding to celebrate by going out to buy a full breakfast.

One rumour around Kaeo, population 500, yesterday was that a local young person or young people may have been involved as winners.

But Whangaroa College knew nothing and the only establishment in Kaeo regularly serving a full breakfast, The Old Saddlery, reported no large family spending up there yesterday morning.

Mr Salisbury said the winners were initially oblivious to their luck.

They had not seen the televised Lotto draw or heard any media coverage. They were not aware of where the winning ticket had been sold.

Mr Salisbury said the family got a call from a relative who told them the ticket was sold in Kaeo. The relative was asked to check the numbers on teletext and after one number was read incorrectly, the family thought they had won second division powerball.

But when they got the correct numbers, they could not believe they matched the ones they had on their ticket.

"It really hasn't sunk in yet. We are absolutely stunned. We are just ordinary people but now we get to live an extraordinary life," the family told lottery officials.

Family members said they were looking forward to "some fun family times ahead."

They also plan to help out several charities that are said to be "close to their hearts".