A Waikato punter is $4.5 million richer after striking the Lotto Powerball jackpot on Wednesday night.
Last night’s prize is made up of $4m from Powerball first division and $500,000 from Lotto first division.
The win came just four days after the mammoth $50m must-be-won draw at the weekend.
A Lotto spokesperson confirmed the winner is from Waikato and the ticket was sold via MyLotto.
The winner is the 12th multi-millionaire of 2024.
Another lucky punter will also be celebrating after winning $500,000 with Lotto first division. The winning ticket was sold at Shree Superette in Auckland.
Meanwhile, Strike Four has rolled over and will be $400,000 on Saturday night.
Last night’s numbers were 7, 9, 16, 19, 30 and 35. The bonus ball was 27 and the Powerball number was 4.
The win comes four days after seven punters shared Lotto’s must-be-won $50m Powerball jackpot on Saturday.
Five have collected their $7.1 million share of the prize, with two tickets yet to be claimed.
“It’s amazing that Powerball rolled down to second division and was shared between seven players – it’s fantastic to see more of our lucky players get to experience what it’s like to win,” Lotto NZ chief executive Jason Delamore said.
“This is going to be life-changing, and not only for the lucky winners themselves, as we know winning big has a huge ripple effect.”
Queues spilled onto the streets on Saturday and stretched inside malls at Lotto stores as an unprecedented two million tickets were expected to be bought in the biggest jackpot of the year.
The MyLotto site was closed on Saturday night because of high demand to check the results.
The seven winners had five correct Lotto numbers and a bonus ball, along with the Powerball.
As the year draws to a close, the Waikato Herald is taking stock of 2024.