The winner of the $30 million Lotto Powerball jackpot has been revealed as a family syndicate from Wellington.
Lotto has just confirmed the news, saying in a statement that the family are occasional players who only buy a ticket when the jackpot is over $20m.
The lucky numbers were 11, 14, 20, 31, 33 and 36, the bonus ball was 26 and the Powerball was 2.
The man who bought the ticket said his daughter-in-law transferred their portion of the ticket to him straight away.
“She told me she didn’t want to owe me anything,” he laughed.
On Saturday night, the man said he had seen the news that the ticket had been won in Carterton - so did not think any further about their ticket. But an email from MyLotto said he had won a major prize.
Instead of checking the ticket on his own, he called for his family to come around; saying that whatever they had won, he wanted them to find out together as a family.
When the magic numbers came up - showing they had pocketed just over $30m, they were in complete disbelief, he said.
They also won an extra $166,667 from Lotto First Division. Their total prize is the largest jackpot of 2024 so far.
“We really didn’t think it was real - why would you? We were so shocked and just kept staring at each other saying: ‘What? How?’” the man who bought the ticket said.
Just before they checked their ticket, he said his son had decided that if they had won “a few thousand”, he would treat him and his wife to a new king-sized bed.
He acknowledged that they were still coming to terms with the life-changing win and revealed that they all still got up for work yesterday morning.
“We’ve lived a modest life and we don’t plan to change our lives drastically,” he said.
“We know what it’s like to go through hard times, so this win will make all of our lives that bit easier.”
As for what’s on the family’s wish list, the man said: “You always dream of winning Powerball and in your head, you’ve mapped out what you’ll do. But it’s so different when you actually win.”
Renovations on the house, however, are in order, he said - and some travel as a family.
“It’s also important to us to help the charities and causes that are close to our hearts, so we’ll do that down the track too.”
There is also going to be a new king-sized bed ordered.
While Saturday night’s Powerball winner was originally touted as being from the small Wairarapa township of Carterton, Lotto later said the winner was actually from Wellington.
Lotto NZ told the Herald that after speaking to the winner, Lotto discovered they were from Wellington, not Carterton, as initially thought.
“When a person signs up for a MyLotto account, they have to pick their region, and then their city or town, so they may have accidentally chosen Carterton as their city or town,” Lotto said via a press release.
The man said his son checked his MyLotto app that night and found that he had indeed mistakenly recorded Carterton as his home location.
After Saturday’s mammoth win, 15 New Zealand Lotto players have now become millionaires in 2024 and Powerball has been struck four times.
The previous biggest win this year came on January 27 when a Canterbury MyLotto punter won $17.25m.
Taupō boaties are being urged to report tampering after a man was arrested.