Lotto Powerball: Two players share $14 million jackpot

Two people have shared Lotto's $14 million Powerball jackpot - pocketing more than $7 million each.

The winning tickets are each worth $7,333,333, including their share of First Division's $1 million.

Those tickets were bought on MyLotto by players in Timaru and Auckland.

A third player who didn't have the Powerball number has won $333,333.

That ticket was bought from Pak'nSave Kaitaia.

The winning numbers of Saturday's 8pm draw were: 1, 7, 8, 11, 26 and 33. Bonus Ball 4; Powerball 5.

Strike Four order: 11, 7, 1 then 8.

Earlier - on Wednesday - two people won Lotto's $500,000 first division but no one had the winning Powerball numbers.

That led Powerball to be rolled over to Saturday's jackpot.

The winners follow on from one lucky Whakatāne woman who won $12.25 million with Powerball first division just a few weeks back.

The woman, who wished to stay anonymous, had an extra special cause to celebrate over the June 24 Matariki holiday weekend after buying her ticket on a whim.

She said she picks up a ticket about once a month and was out running errands when she decided to pop into her local store and grab a Power Dip for that night's draw.

"I was out doing some chores as I usually do when I remembered it was Wednesday and thought I'd pick up a ticket."

She tucked her lucky ticket away in her purse, finished her errands and went about the rest of her day.

The next day, she headed into town for an appointment and checked her ticket at the store while she waited.

She hadn't heard there was a big win in her area, so was shocked when the winning music played and the Lotto operator took her to one side, quietly telling her she had won Powerball.

"When the lady showed me the receipt, I thought it said $1,200, but she soon told me 'Not $1,200… $12 million.'

"I was really shocked. I was a bit hot and bothered and I didn't know what to do, but luckily the people in the shop helped me," she said.

"I have no idea how I still managed to go to my appointment after that," she laughed.

Afterwards, the woman went home and called her son with the good news.

"Mum was cool as a cucumber. She calmly told me she had won Lotto… but she didn't tell me how much, so when I went round and saw the ticket and claim form, I was blown away," he said.

But "win represents freedom and will help our family a lot".

The woman said she planned to take some time to let her win sink in before making any big decisions but would like to do home renovations and go on a trip.

"This win represents freedom and will help our family a lot," she said.

The largest ever Lotto win in New Zealand was in 2016 when a couple from the Hibiscus Coast won $44 million.

"Kiwis are so grounded. They've found that they've won all this money and they are super excited. But the first thing that they jump to is: What does this mean for their whānau and their community."