Winner yet to claim $16m prize

The town of Cambridge is abuzz with the knowledge that an instant multimillionaire could be living amongst them. Photo / Hawke's Bay Today

An instant multimillionaire could be walking around the Waikato town of Cambridge without knowing he or she is $16.3 million richer.

But locals say it is more likely the lucky winner is lying low and trying to figure out what to do with this vast and new-found wealth.

Last night, the winning Powerball ticket - bought at Countdown in Cambridge - had still not been claimed.

The punter won $16,136,286 from Powerball first division and $216,279 from Lotto first division.

Countdown Cambridge duty manager Alf Williams said the Powerball win - the third biggest in its history - had tongues wagging around the town.

But neither he nor any of his staff had received any phone calls thanking them for selling the winning ticket.

"Not at this point in time, we haven't heard a thing.

"They're probably just keeping their heads down ... If I was them I'd probably keep my head down too and go overseas for a few weeks to get my head around it."

New Zealand Lotteries spokeswoman Karen Jones said there was a high probability the person who bought the ticket lived locally.

It was "very unlikely" the winner did not know about their huge windfall given the publicity surrounding it.

"If they haven't come forward in a few days we will start to worry - I just hope they have written their name and address on the back of it.

"Some people deliberately wait a few days to escape the publicity and don't take days off work - it would be pretty obvious when you're taking a Monday off after a big prize has gone."

Ms Jones said Lotteries staff offered financial and emotional advice to winners when they came in to their Wellington office to collect their prizes.

While unclaimed Lotto prizes remain "relatively rare", Ms Jones said the largest win never collected was a $3 million ticket bought in the Wairarapa three years ago.

Tobie Stewart, who works at the Masonic Hotel in Cambridge, could not recall anyone coming into the bar over the weekend offering to shout everyone at the hotel.

"You'd probably want to keep it quiet and not tell too many people about it anyway," she said.