Lotto Powerball $33.5 million win: Lotto defends online waits to check tickets

Lotto is defending its systems after punters eager to see if they had landed the giant $33.5 million prize had to wait more than 30 minutes to check their tickets on the site’s app and website.

A spokesperson for Lotto compared its online platform to a physical retail store, saying that some people needed to queue for a bit before they could be served after this week’s draw.

“As you can imagine for a draw where we sell more than 1.2 million tickets, we had a huge number of people try to check their tickets all at the same time once the results were released on Wednesday night.

“The site held up well and there were no technical issues – although our virtual queue was activated to manage the traffic for a period during the evening.”

One Lotto customer had to wait more than 30 minutes in the queue to check if they had the winning online ticket.

The latest glitch comes after tickets disappeared from view following a system upgrade in July last year.

“We did complete an upgrade of the platform that supports our website and our app in July 2022, and that upgrade has been very successful in managing the greater number of customers purchasing online,” the spokesperson said.

One Lotto customer had to wait over 30 minutes to check if they had the winning ticket. Photo / Supplied.

The winning ticket was bought at FreshChoice Merivale in Christchurch. The mammoth prize is made up of $33m from Powerball First Division and $500,000 from Lotto First Division.

FreshChoice Merivale store owner Craig Grant told the Herald today it was a “little bit of sweet and sour” as his team popped champagne at the counter.

“It’s the sweetness of it all really,” he said about the win after the torrid experience.

Grant said he learned about his store’s big news via a flurry of texts buzzing into his phone last night. This morning he was still trying to digest the news but called the outcome “fantastic”.

“It’s exciting for the winner, it’s life-changing money,” he said.

“We’re hoping it’s local and someone needs it.”

The FreshChoice supermarket in Christchurch's Merivale is abuzz today after it sold the $33.5m Lotto ticket. Photo / George Heard

Yesterday’s numbers were 33, 31, 15, 5, 4 and 8. The bonus ball was 29 and the Powerball was 10.

Grant said the store was notified last night of their till’s winning ticket and the team would be monitoring whether the winner would appear in person to claim their prize.

“They might come here or they might not, we’ll cross that bridge when it comes up.

“It’s been a wee while since we had last won [a jackpot] - we’ve had a few first division wins but nothing of this magnitude.”

It’s exactly the morale booster this store needed, following a horror Easter Monday when a man approached the Lotto till and claimed to be armed.

Two girls were working the till at the time, roughly 5pm that Monday night.

Grant said the store was “chocka” with customers at the time.

“He was discreet the way he did it, he had a mask on and all that,” he said.

Fresh Choice owner Craig Grant celebrates his store's mega winning ticket. Photo / George Heard

“Not much fun at all - they took the float [money].”

Both staff members were offered victim support through police and the company stepped in to do its bit. One of the girls working at the time didn’t return following the incident.

However, the other was rostered to be working the morning of the shop’s mega win.

“It changes the nature of the till”

Riley Greaves had been working upstairs on Easter Monday when she noticed the Lotto till only had one younger staff member serving customers.

The student part-time worker made her way to the till to help out.

Upon arriving, she was approached by her manager who calmly told her “Give her a hand and give him the money”.

Riley Greaves serves customers after experiencing a hold-up at her till months earlier. Photo / George Heard

Only seconds earlier, the manager had been approached by a large man covered head-to-toe, wearing a hoodie and mask who demanded the money.

He told her: “I’ve got a weapon, open the till and give me the money.”

Fresh Choice’s checkout manager, Cass Andrews, said the manager was very calm as she turned to her co-worker, another student and asked her to meet his wishes.

“It was the float money, under $1000,” she told the Herald.

As Greaves went to help her co-worker, she observed the man take the money and leave. The decision was made to call the police and close the store early.

“It all unravelled at the end but it all looked so chill, even the [other] operators didn’t know about it,” she said.

“You can’t prepare for it, you just do.”

Customers asked why the shop was closing early - Greaves calmly responded there had been an issue, trying to keep a brave face. Photo / George Heard

Customers asked why the shop was closing early - Greaves calmly responded there had been an issue, trying to keep a brave face.

That night, she processed what she’d experienced with her best friends.

“I didn’t get a good look at [the man], he had a face mask and his hoodie up. You could see his eyes which was the scary part,” said Greaves.

Greaves had worked at the store for four years, she was comfortable with confiding in her co-workers.

Her co-worker decided she’d had enough.

“She resigned,” said Andrews.

“Everybody deals with it different, and fair enough,” Greaves added.

Andrews said the girl was a good worker and her departure was a big loss for the company, through no fault of its own.

“I think more so, I’m quite protective now of my operators. But there was great support from around the store,” she said.

Now, there’s something for the workers to celebrate - a Lotto trophy that the employees seem very excited to receive and a little treat from Lotto to enjoy today.

But it’s the legacy of the till that now changes the most following today’s special development.

Now, there’s something for the workers to celebrate - a Lotto trophy and a little treat from Lotto to enjoy today. Photo / George Heard

“It makes it a happy place to be now,” said Greaves, adding she now feels safer to return to the till.

Staff have been racking their brains to remember who they gave the winning ticket to - they can’t remember which customer they gave the Powerball-winning 10.

But there’s a good chance Greaves gave the lucky winner their life-changing ticket.

“They’re all such lovely old people who come in every week and buy them,” she said.

“It just makes it all better.

A life-changing Lotto win

This is the highest jackpot won since 2021, and the third-highest jackpot ever. The winner becomes the ninth multi-millionaire this year thanks to Lotto Powerball.

One other lucky player won $500,000 with Lotto First Division tonight, that ticket was sold on MyLotto to someone in Auckland.

Three other people won in the second division, taking home $34,997 each.

The Powerball jackpot surged after Saturday’s draw of $30m went unstruck.

In the build-up to last night’s draw, the owner of one of New Zealand’s luckiest Lotto stores was betting it could sell another winner.

It has been a year since Whakatāne’s Halfway Store sold a $12m winning ticket and store owner Sophie Sang hoped it could repeat that feat.

The store had total wins valued at $12,250,000. Its largest prize won was $12m in Powerball, with $250,000 from Lotto First Division.

Grant said the store was notified last night of their till’s winning ticket and the team would be monitoring whether the winner will appear. Photo / George Heard

Lotto NZ said the odds of winning are “exactly the same no matter how or where you buy your ticket”, but the Halfway store backs its lucky reputation.

The shop is emblazoned with emblems of luck - from the leprechaun and four-leaf clover behind the counter to the big “lucky” sign at its entrance.

Sang said the store had been “lucky every year” since it sold its first winning ticket in 1996.

“Our regular customers are too many to count. It doesn’t matter if the prize is $20m or $2m, they come every Wednesday and Saturday.”

Lotto head of communications Lucy Fullarton told the Herald that Lotto would meet with any potential winner “as soon as possible” to provide comprehensive guidance and support for the win.

They will also refer them to the right expertise to set them up “for a great future”.

Fullarton said there were often ripple effects from big wins like the one possible today.

“Winners [share] them with family and often use the money to benefit the wider community.”

The last time somebody walked away with a $33m prize pot was in 2013 when the winning ticket was sold in a shoe repair shop in Ponsonby, Auckland.

In 2021, the second-largest Lotto victory was achieved in the small Waikato town of Pōkeno, when a ticket became worth $42.2m.

This feat was only beaten by the biggest win in New Zealand’s Lotto history, which was achieved in 2016 when an Auckland resident claimed a prize of $44m.

A young Hibiscus Coast couple took home the winnings and said they were looking forward to a low-key Christmas.

“We don’t want to jet off overseas when we have the chance to spend some special times with our family and friends,” the new multi-millionaires said in a statement.

The New Zealand Lotto competitions are not on the scale of competitions elsewhere around the world.

A single mother of three in the United States once took to the stage to receive her Lottery prize of a cool US$476m ($772m), while a couple in Northern Ireland won NZ$237m in the EuroMillions contest in 2019.

The largest ever amount won by an individual in a lottery? Look no further than South Carolina, where one lucky ticket holder took home the all-time prize back in 2019.

How much did they win? The New Zealand equivalent of $2.4 billion.