A jackpot-winning South Island couple sat like “stunned mullets” after discovering they had bagged a mouth-watering $17 million.
The Invercargill pair had won a whopping $17,250,000 after winning Lotto’s First Division and Powerball on Wednesday night.
They purchased their ticket through the MyLotto app.
Describing the moment, the couple who wish to remain anonymous said they were still “shocked”.
“It’s turned our world upside down.”
The woman bought the ticket on the morning of the day the striking prize was to be announced.
Initially mistaking the prize for just $17000 her husband alerted her to the major reward.
“I logged in and checked my ticket, not thinking about it. But when I saw my numbers line up, followed by the words ‘Major Prize Winner,’ I immediately showed my husband,” she said.
“I didn’t even really see how much it was, but he stared at the screen, looked at me, and said, ‘Do you know how much that is?’
“I was completely oblivious. I thought it said $17,000. When he told me it was 17 million, I just said, oh my gosh.”
And her husband thought they had been pranked.
“I kept asking her, ‘Is this a joke? You’re joking, right?”
After reality set in for New Zealand’s latest multi-millionaires, the couple said they sat like “stunned mullets” before bursting into laughter, followed by tears.
“I’m surprised I didn’t have a heart attack,” the man said.
The emotional couple said they struggled to keep a straight face in front of their children.
“They kept asking what was going on. We were buzzing – you could feel it in the air,” they said.
The pair could not sleep all night and the next morning they took a screenshot of the ticket and kept looking at it with joy throughout the day.
“I must have looked like a madman,” the man said.
With their prize officially claimed, the couple said they were looking forward to the future.
“The win is going to help our family so much,” the woman said.
“After everything calms down a bit, we’d like to celebrate somewhere nice with the kids, but we plan to keep working and living life like normal.
“We honestly never thought this would happen. It’s amazing.”
The couple has become the seventh Powerball multi-millionaire of 2023, and their victory comes only a few weeks after a couple from Porirua claimed a $7m Powerball prize.
Last month a punter won $15.5m in a must-be-won draw, from which half the value of ticket sales will go towards helping people living in regions devastated by Cyclone Gabrielle.
Powerball has now rolled over to $10 million for Wednesday night's draw.