Lotto win: One million dollars to start 2017

One lucky Lotto player won first division. PHOTO/Natalie Slade

One lucky Kiwi will start 2017 $1 million richer.

A Lotto player from Paihia won Lotto First Division tonight. The winning ticket was sold at Paihia Four Square in Paihia.

Powerball was not struck this evening and has rolled over to Wednesday night, where the jackpot will be $6.5 million.

Meanwhile, Strike Four also rolled over and will be $300,000 on Wednesday.

A Northland man who won $5.3 million on Lotto and Powerball cried when he was first told he had won the money with his partner on December 22.

The winner said he had no idea his life was about to change when he went into the Lotto store on Friday to check his ticket. After putting it through the machine, the woman behind the counter asked him to come into the back room.

"My first thought was 'what have I done wrong?' I've never been asked into the back room before," he said.

"Once she told me what had happened - that I'd won $5.3 million, I just started crying and I was shaking so much I had to sit down. They were just so lovely in the store though, they got me a cup of coffee and helped me fill in the paperwork and generally made sure I was OK."

Once the winner had regained his composure, the next stop was to head home and tell his wife.

"I was doing some gardening when he drove up and he said to me 'you better come up to the house', so I knew something was up," she said.

"When I got into the house, he was pouring us a drink. I just looked at him and said 'you haven't won Lotto, have you?' because I knew he was down the store checking our ticket.
"He had happy tears running down his face and he gave me a big hug and said 'yip, we did it'."

The couple can't believe their good fortune and are looking forward to sharing the news with close family.

"We want to buy a car or a boat, and a house, and we want to go on holiday. Our minds are just whirring - so we're going to put it in the bank for the time being and not make any big decisions until next year," he said.

"To be honest, we're just a couple of hard workers who have hit the gold mine and we just can't believe our good luck."

A young couple from the Hisbiscus Coast won $44 million in the biggest Kiwi Powerball win of all time after buying their ticket at Dairy Flat Food Mart and Liquor in December.

At the time of their win, the young couple said they had just about given up on being able to buy their first home.

"As soon as I saw I had all the numbers on one line I just yelled 'holy ****!' - my boss thought I'd chopped my arm off with a saw."

Lotto's Triple Dip Christmas promotion with 200 extra prizes was also drawn tonight, with a player from Arrowtown winning the top prize of $1 million. The winning voucher was sold at Arrowtown Night 'n Day.

There were also nine BMW X1 sDrive vehicles up for grabs. The winning voucher numbers and locations are as follows:

Voucher number - Location - Retailer
28573 - Auckland - New World Mt Roskill
650905 - Pukekohe - Pak N Save Pukekohe
998759 - Turangi - Z Turangi
1004734 - Wellington - Countdown Crofton Downs
1216643 - Chatham Islands - MyLotto
1451676 - Dunedin - Centre City New World
1591917 - Whangarei - New World Regent
1684256 - Waiuku - New World Waiuku
1695291 - Te Aroha - Te Aroha Four Square