Millionaire winners finally found

Photo / Michael Craig

The missing Manukau millionaires yesterday claimed their two-week-old $1.3 million Lotto prize at the same time as the record-breaking $28.7 million Powerball ticket was validated.

The Auckland couple, who bought their winning ticket at Pakuranga Lotto in Manukau on October 2, arrived at the Wellington NZ Lotteries office as a pig-hunting Papakura father claimed his $28.7 million prize, Lotteries NZ said.

The couple were out of town when they saw a media story saying NZ Lotteries were looking for the winners, and thought it could be them, but forgot all about it. "I had to go shopping, so checked all our tickets on the checker at the store, and it came up First Division winner - I thought maybe I'd won about $20,000 so was pretty excited," the woman said.

"Then the girl at the store told me, and I showed the man behind me in the queue, and he thought it was $1300 - but I said 'no, look'."

After finding out she had won, she carried on shopping: "We may have just won lots of money, but we still needed to eat. Although I did buy some treats like chocolate bars, biscuits, and Angus steak. The kids could choose whatever they wanted for dinner, and they chose garlic bread and biscuits."

The couple plan to pay off their mortgage, do a few things around the house, help family, and increase their donation to the SPCA.

But they also plan to be careful with their money, so they can retire a few years earlier than planned.

"That $28 million is life-changing, our win is life-enhancing, so we're going to do just that - enhance ours and our families' lives."

- NZPA