Raj Kumar, the owner of Springfield Superette and Lotto, says he sees "unprecedented numbers" of Lotto customers when the jackpot gets this high. Photo / Stephen Parker
Raj Kumar, the owner of Springfield Superette and Lotto, says he sees "unprecedented numbers" of Lotto customers when the jackpot gets this high. Photo / Stephen Parker
The first Lotto ticket sold yesterday at Springfield Superette and Lotto in Rotorua was at 7.10am, to a customer who came in to get a pie for breakfast.
The Lotto Powerball jackpot is $28 million tomorrow night and plenty of Bay of Plenty punters are heading to their local shopsto get a ticket, at all hours of the day.
The Powerball jackpot hasn't been this high since late 2017 and only four players in the history of Lotto Powerball have ever won a prize over $28m.
Raj Kumar, the owner of Springfield Superette and Lotto, said he sees "unprecedented numbers" of Lotto customers when the jackpot gets this high.
"When it gets to such a huge amount even the person buying a pie in the morning wants to," he said, before adding: "Breakfast of champions, don't forget."
"When it's under $10m we have to still sell it, when it becomes $20m it sells itself, when it becomes $25m, $28m everybody wants to go in the show, it's like a FOMO [fear of missing out]," Kumar said.
In June 2015 Kumar sold a ticket that went on to win $24.3m. It is still the Bay of Plenty's biggest Powerball prize of all time.
He was in the store the day the customer came in to check it. It was a local, familiar face.
"It was exciting, we made a lot of noise and hoopla," Kumar said. But not straight away.
He said there were a couple of other people in the shop at the time and so they made excuses – "sorry, the machine's locked" – and waited for the others to leave, shut the front door, and then broke the news. The man was in shock, Kumar said.
"He called his wife, he was nervous, she wasn't sure, she thought he was pulling a prank. She spoke to me and I confirmed it for her."
Kumar said he still sees that family every now and again. He said it would be nice for another local customer to be as lucky as they were, come tomorrow night.
Meanwhile, in Tauranga, Greerton Lotto owner Belinda Sands has also been doing a steady trade.
Greerton Lotto has sold a lot of million-dollar-plus winning tickets over the years and has something of a reputation as being one of the country's luckiest Lotto stores.
In fact, according to Lotto NZ, it is New Zealand's fifth-luckiest Lotto store (tied with two other stores), having sold a total of 27 First Division prizes. Of those, three were Powerball First Division wins.
Greerton Lotto's biggest win so far has been $5.5m. That winner chose to donate an ambulance to St John Tauranga with some of his winnings.
Sands said she would still like to sell "a really big one" – like $28m, for instance.
"To have a big win come to Greerton or even Tauranga would be just amazing. To have one of our locals or regulars win money like that would be seriously life-changing for them and their families and their friends."
She said she still sees the $5.5m winner from time to time and another punter, who netted $4.5m at her store, still comes in every week for a Lotto ticket.
Greerton Lotto owner Belinda Sands with her two lucky charms, Pippi and Johnny the two English staffies. Photo / George Novak
Sands said once the Lotto jackpot hits $20m she starts to see a lot of new faces coming into the store.
She said people Google "lucky Lotto shop" and come into Greerton Lotto especially, sometimes getting a photo at the same time in front of her trophy wall, with their ticket.
Lying below that trophy wall, behind the counter, are Greerton Lotto's lucky charms – Pippi and Johnny the two English staffies.
"It was after we got them actually that we got all those winners in a row," Sands said.
"And they need to do their job because we haven't had one for a little while. So it must be our turn coming around again."
Kumar, and all of his loyal customers, will be hoping their turn comes first.
Top 5 Lotto Powerball wins in the Bay of Plenty – of all time
1. June 2015: Springfield Superette and Lotto (Rotorua) – $24.3 million 2. April 2004: Meikles Kawerau (Kawerau) – $14.7 million 3. January 2008: Bureta Superette (Tauranga) – $13.3 million 4. August 2011: Murupara Four Square (Murupara) – $12 million 5. May 2011: Countdown Rotorua (Rotorua) – $10 million
