Lotto Power ball winner: Manukau abuzz at $25m Lotto prize

Manukau is today celebrating the strong likelihood that one of their own is now $25 million richer.

A local councillor says the giant win is awesome, but is urging the lucky ticket holder to get professional financial advice. And to keep the big news quiet, given that Manukau is a tight-knit community.

Countdown Manukau City Mall sold one of the two winning tickets in last night's mammoth $50 million Lotto Powerball draw, with the other ticket purchased by an Auckland punter online.

The pair each win a cool $25.1 million in Lotto's biggest night since it debuted in New Zealand on August 1, 1987.

Manukau's winner has not been identified, but Auckland Council ward councillor Alf Filipaina hoped it was a local.

"Good on them, it's great, I mean gosh," he said today.

"I just hope they get advice with the awesome opportunity they now have and make sure it doesn't just get splashed and then all of a sudden they think, 'gosh, where did it all go'."

A Countdown spokeswoman said the Manukau team was ecstatic to sell a winning ticket.

"We're absolutely thrilled that one of our customers has been so lucky with last night's Lotto and we hope they are celebrating with their friends and family today," she said.

Lotto NZ earlier confirmed they were selling 2000 tickets a minute in the hours leading up to last night's mega draw. Photo / Michael Craig

Filipaina urged the winner to enjoy the moment - but to also take a breather before making too many decisions.

Manukau was a tight-knit community and word about a local winner's identity would likely leak out, he said.

"I have no doubts they will be inundated like most of the big winners," he said.

"That is why it is important to take a step back and go, 'Okay, this is what we've done'."

Filipaina suggested they could put the money in a term deposit for a few months while they sought advice.

"Talk to people you trust and obviously get professional help around how you now spend your winnings," he said.

"Gosh, it will make a big difference on their family and extended families' lives."

First division, meanwhile, had nine winners but only two had the lucrative Powerball.

The seven First Division-winning tickets - each now worth $111,111 - were bought from Tai Ping in Auckland, Greerton Lotto in Tauranga, Greenmeadows New World in Napier, Levin New World, On The Spot in Tapanui, and Balclutha Bookshop Paper Plus, and on My Lotto by an Auckland player.

Three winners share the Strike Four jackpot - each collecting $333,333.

Their tickets were bought from Milton Night'n'Day, Blagdon Four Square New Plymouth, and on My Lotto by an Auckland player.

More than 2.5m tickets were sold for the draw which offered the game's most lucrative prize ever.

The winning numbers were: 4, 18, 27, 25, 32, 28.

The bonus number was 37 and the Powerball was 3.

Lotto Powerball jackpotted to the mouth-watering $50m after it wasn't struck on "Big Wednesday" – when the kitty had reached $42m. The $50m figure is the cap-limit that Powerball is allowed to reach in New Zealand.

Two lucky winners have pocketed $25m each from last night's mega lotto jackpot. Photo / Supplied

A staggering 2000 tickets were being sold a minute in the hours leading up to the 8pm draw.

And as of 6pm, 2.3m tickets had been sold.

One player in the Hawke's Bay spent $2000, buying 20 tickets for the big draw.

Dianne Dairy owner Sukhjit Singh said he was blown away by the huge purchase, initially thinking the spend up was "crazy".

Given the huge interest in the draw, some people had trouble logging into Lotto's website to check the result. And the Lotto app also experienced difficulties in dealing with online traffic.

Ahead of the draw today, Lotto NZ released advice from those lucky winners for future newly-minted Kiwi Lotto players.

"First of all, don't have a heart attack! That's the most important thing to remember," laughed one of the winners.

"But seriously, my best piece of advice is to remember to eat and sleep in the first two weeks. It's the little things like that that are easy to forget in the early days after a big win.

"Finally, the best thing we did was get good financial advice. Make sure they're on the same wavelength as you and go into the conversation with a good idea of what you want to do long-term."