Lotto: Christchurch player wins $1m, Powerball rolls over to Saturday

A lucky Lotto punter from Christchurch City is $1 million richer after hitting the first division prize in last night’s live draw.

The winning ticket was sold on MyLotto.

Powerball was not struck and has rolled over to Saturday night, where the jackpot will be $8m.

Strike Four also rolled over and will be $1m on Saturday, making it a must-be-won draw.

In a Strike must-be-won draw, if no single ticket wins first division, the prize pool is added to the next highest division with a winner.

Wednesday night’s winning numbers were 4, 5, 12, 13, 28, 34, the Bonus Ball was 24, and the Powerball number was 4.

It comes just three days after a young Maraenui woman discovered she’d become a millionaire.

The woman turned up at Maraenui Four Square on Monday with a Lotto ticket she had no idea was a winner and jammed the machine, sending store owner Kuljit Parihar into a frenzy.

Maraenui Four Square store owner Kuljit Parihar said the $1m Lotto prize was won by a young local woman and was the biggest prize ever claimed in-store. Photo / Warren Buckland

The $1mn Christmas Triple Dip ticket was originally purchased from Andrew Spence Pharmacy in Onekawa, and Lotto confirmed it had since been claimed.

Parihar said when the machine jammed, staff knew the ticket had won something big, but were unable to identify the exact amount that had been won.

The big wins of 2023

It was a year of big wins in Lotto with an Auckland couple becoming the 90th and last people of 2023 to win the Lotto Powerball first division, joining the list of several other new Kiwi millionaires.

Other mammoth wins from throughout the year include $37.125m won in Paraparaumu, $33.5m won in Christchurch, $24.25m struck in Lower Hutt and $23.5m won in Auckland.

The Paraparaumu winner claimed her $37m jackpot in August and spoke to the Herald after her win saying she had only gone to the supermarket to buy a chocolate bar and picked up her lucky Lotto ticket on a whim.

The Christchurch couple who won the $33.5m - one of the largest Lotto draws in recent history - kept their ticket hidden in the sock drawer for days while they worked out what they would do with their winnings.

The couple, who wished to remain anonymous, said they were overwhelmed by the magnitude of the win and needed time to process it before coming forward.

The woman said her husband had already gone to bed and she had to wake him up to confirm the prize.

“My husband had already gone to bed so I woke him up and said, ‘Can you please check this for me? These numbers are dancing on the paper. Is it actually real?’”