Auckland Couple Win NZ$8 Million New Zealand Powerball Jackpot
A married couple from West Auckland, New Zealand, have described their ‘complete shock’ at finding out they were winners of a Powerball jackpot worth NZ$8 million. The duo, who have a young family, have become the lottery’s third jackpot winners of the year after their big win.
Jackpot-Winning Ticket Bought Online
The winning ticket matched all six main numbers – 1, 4, 24, 25, 26 and 37 – and the Powerball 7 – in the draw on Saturday 9th February to scoop the seven-figure windfall. There were 18,224 winners overall, including two ticket holders who matched five main numbers, the Bonus Ball and the Powerball to receive NZ$37,757 each.
NZ$7 million of the NZ$8 million windfall came from the Powerball draw, with a further NZ$1 million won in New Zealand Lotto. Powerball is a supplementary draw to the main Lotto game, and you can take part for an additional fee for a chance to win more prizes.
The parents bought their lucky entry online and the husband checked his emails early in the morning following the draw when he saw a message had come through from MyLotto – the official lottery operator in New Zealand – saying they had won a prize in last night’s Powerball game.
He explained: “I’d never received a message like that before, so I opened the Lotto NZ App straight away to check my ticket.” He began watching the drawing of each individual number, and described that moment: “By the time the sixth number was about to be drawn, I was beside myself. I was just willing the last number to be the number 24 – and when it was, I was in complete shock. When I saw $8,000,000 staring back at me, my heart started pounding. I jumped straight off the couch and ran into the bedroom where my partner was sleeping – my mind was buzzing."
“It Was Such a Surreal Moment!”
The wife also revealed how she simply couldn’t contain her excitement when she found out they had become overnight multi-millionaires. She said: "When he called my name, I could tell something was up straight away — he had his serious voice on, he showed me the ticket on his phone, then just looked at me and said 'an eight with six zeros... that's $8 million, right?
“To be honest, it was so early in the morning that even I was second-guessing how many zeros $8 million was. We put our hands on each other's chests and sure enough both our hearts were racing - it was such a surreal moment!"
The duo have stated they intend to buy a home together, help their families financially and also go travelling. They added: "Everyone we've told has been so happy for us - we've got a young family so this really couldn't have come at a better time, we've got our whole lives ahead of us."
It is the third time the Powerball jackpot has been won this year, following on from a Manawatu-based winner of NZ$10.2 million on 26th January, and a Taranaki ticket holder who took home $22.3 million on 2nd January.
The Powerball jackpot has automatically reset to NZ$4 million following the big win, and you can enter this Wednesday’s draw by picking your numbers from an authorised ticket retailer in New Zealand, or online. Best of luck!