'This win is life changing': Sleepless night for Wellington couple after winning $16 million

It was a sleepless night for a lucky Wellington Couple after winning $16 million with Powerball First Division. Photo / Dean Purcell

It was a sleepless night for a lucky Wellington couple last Wednesday, after finding out they had won $16 million with Powerball First Division.

The couple, who wish to remain anonymous, spent the night talking about all the things they could do with their prize – while also not quite believing it was real.

"I kept nudging my husband every half hour or so to see if he was asleep, my mind was racing with all the amazing things we'd be able to do, and I needed to talk!

"He was a bit calmer than me, but only because he wasn't sure it was actually real," laughed the woman.

Earlier that evening, the man had picked up a ticket on MyLotto after seeing the jackpot was $15 million. He and his wife carried on with their evening until something told him he should log in and check his ticket.

"I usually buy a ticket when the jackpot is high – probably over $10 million – and even then, it's only when I remember to get one.

"I normally don't check it for days afterwards either, so I don't know what made me log in after the draw," said the man.

As he logged in, he saw a message saying he was a winner.

"I honestly thought it was a glitch – never in a million years did I think we'd win. We waited a while and when we saw in the news that $16 million had been won in Wellington, that's when I started to think 'okay, maybe it could be us'," he said.

After checking their ticket multiple times, screenshotting it, and reading the news over and over, the couple decided to go to bed as they had work in the morning – not that they managed to sleep.

The next day, they went to work as usual and welcomed the distraction.

"I was able to compartmentalise and do my job – I don't know how!

"Every time I was alone throughout the day though, my mind wandered back to all those zeroes on the ticket, and I just burst out laughing," said the woman.

After finishing work, the man was walking back to his car when his phone rang.

When the person said they were from Lotto NZ, my stomach flipped and I thought 'oh wow, it must be real' – the confirmation was a weight off my mind for sure!"

The couple took Labour Weekend to let the enormity of their win sink in and celebrated with a low-key family dinner.

"We are going to celebrate properly soon, hopefully we can get away for a couple of days, just us," said the woman.

With the money safely in their bank account, the couple already have lots of plans for the future.

"We plan to pay off our mortgage and maybe do some renovations.

"We also want to help our wider family and some charities close to our hearts. We don't know when, or what that looks like just yet, but there's no rush," said the man.

"This win is life-changing. It gives us the freedom to do those things we maybe couldn't before. We love travelling, it's an experience that's important to us, so that's definitely on the agenda – starting with a family holiday," said the woman.

The $16 million Powerball prize is made up of $15 million from Powerball First Division and $1 million from Lotto First Division.

This is the 16th Powerball First Division winner of 2022.