Lotto windfall stuns family

An Auckland man sat in a carpark staring at his Lotto ticket for several hours yesterday, trying to come to terms with the fact that his family had won $9.5 million.

The winners of the ninth largest Powerball prize, who wish to remain anonymous, had no idea of their windfall until they checked their ticket against the results in a newspaper.

"I bought the paper and then checked my ticket in the car. I couldn't believe it when I saw we had won," one of the winners said.

"I sat in my car in the carpark for a couple of hours just trying to get my head around it," he said in a statement issued through the Lotteries Commission.

"I still can't believe it."

They were confident the win would not change them. "We're going to keep working," the man said.

"We don't even know if we'll get a new car. We see this prize as enriching our lives, not changing them."

The family took away a total of $9.56 million.

The prize included $9.2 million from winning Powerball first division, and $361,290 from winning Lotto first division, which was shared with two other winners.

The Ponderosa Dairy in Mangere, which sold the winning ticket, was buzzing with excitement yesterday.

The Singh family have been running the dairy for about 14 years, but only opened up a Lotto outlet last year.

Not long after opening, they sold a second division winning ticket.

Harjot Singh, son of the owner, said word of the big win had travelled fast.

"Quite a lot of people have been asking about it.

"People have been saying it's a lucky store."

There has been plenty of speculation about the winners, but Mr Singh said he had no idea who the winner was, or whether they were regular customers.

Two other major winners of Saturday night's prize draw have also claimed their winnings.

The Lotto First Division prize of $361,290 was won by a ticket sold at Willy Wonka in Auckland. The $867,467 Strike Four winning ticket was sold at Kuripuni Lotto and Postshop in Masterton.

The other Lotto First Division prize, sold at Silverstream Pharmacy in Upper Hutt, and the Winning Wheel ticket, sold by Nawton Stationers and Lotto in Hamilton, have yet to be claimed.

The largest Powerball prize in history won by a single ticket was taken by an Auckland family with a ticket bought in Kaeo in May. They took home $18 million.