Winner of $18 million Lotto Powerball has claimed their prize

An Auckland man who claimed Saturday's $18.3 million Powerball First Division prize said his family were "all swearing like pirates" when they realised he had won.

The winner, who wishes to remain anonymous, was watching the rugby with his parents on Saturday night when he decided to check his Lotto ticket.

"At that stage I didn't have a clue that Powerball had been won, let alone that I'd bought a ticket from the winning store," he said.

"As soon as I saw the winning numbers, the matching line on my ticket leapt out at me – there was no missing it.

"I just sat staring at the ticket, checking the numbers over and over again, I was so paranoid that I'd gotten something wrong."

After checking the ticket in every way he could think of, the winner told his parents the good news.

"I announced to Mum and Dad that I'd had a bit of a Lotto win," he said.

"We couldn't believe it – he wins Powerball and casually says he's had 'a bit of a win'. It was definitely an understatement," laughed the winner's mother.

The $18 million Powerball ticket was bought at Paper Plus in Remuera, which has only been a Lotto retailer for a few months.

The winning ticket was made up of $18 million from Powerball First Division and $333,333 from Lotto First Division.

It wasn't until news of the big win started appearing online that the winner began to believe just how lucky that yellow piece of paper was.

"I knew that I had all the winning numbers, but it still didn't feel 'real'. It wasn't until I saw a news banner pop up online saying that someone had won $18 million on a ticket from Paper Plus Remuera that it really clicked and I started shaking.

"That's when I jumped on the phone to let my brothers and sisters know – we were all swearing like pirates that night," he said.

The winner then had a nervous wait before he claimed his prize at Lotto NZ's head office on Monday morning.

"The ticket didn't leave my pocket the whole weekend – I was too worried I'd lose it.

" I kept patting my pocket all day to make sure it hadn't slipped out – I probably wore out my jeans."

With the winning ticket safely handed over at Lotto HQ, the winner is now looking forward to enjoying his winnings.

"I'll be sharing the prize with my family, for sure – that's the biggest thing for me.

"Other than that, I don't really know what I'll do to be honest. It's still a bit fresh," said the winner.

Over the weekend, the manager of the Lotto store which sold the winning ticket described the news as "unreal".

Scott McLanachan said he had "absolutely no idea" who the winner was.

The store had only become a Lotto retailer in February, he said, and this was the first big win the store could claim.

"We've gone straight from small prizes to the big stakes."

"It's unreal."

This is the fifth time this year that Powerball has been won, and is the second largest Powerball prize won this year following a $20 million Powerball win in by a Christchurch couple in February.