Christchurch Man Wins NZ$5.5 Million New Zealand Powerball Jackpot
A Christchurch resident has described the “surreal and life-changing” moment when he found out he was the winner of a New Zealand Powerball jackpot worth NZ$5.5 million. The lucky player is still coming to terms with the news, and is already looking forward to the future with his seven-figure windfall.
Played Same Line for Five Years
The lucky player, who has decided to remain anonymous, was the only one to match all six numbers – 1, 2, 37, 35, 36 and 40 – and Powerball 4 in the draw on Saturday 6th February to become an overnight multi-millionaire. There were 15,567 winners overall, including two ticket holders who matched five main numbers, the Powerball and Bonus Ball 3 to take home NZ$51,460 each.
The Powerball jackpot winner, who purchased his winning entry online, revealed how he has bought tickets with the same lucky numbers for the past half a decade. His persistence has finally paid off, and he explained: "I bought a Dip ticket about five years ago and won $90 on it – I figured the numbers were pretty lucky, so decided to adopt them as my lucky numbers and play them every week."
He checked his numbers shortly after the draw using the Lotto New Zealand app on his smartphone, and recalled: "I saw the first couple of numbers circled off on my ticket and thought that was quite a good start – then they just kept coming. By the time the fifth number was circled I was making a fair bit of noise. When that sixth number was circled… well, I just couldn't believe it. And then came the Powerball! When I saw that, I leapt up and started running around the room screaming."
Struggling to compose himself, the excited player then couldn’t tell his partner quick enough, proclaiming: "I showed her the picture of my ticket with the prize amount and she just looked at me and said 'what's that - $5500?'. I had to tell her to look again – I guess we aren't used to looking at a number with so many zeros!"
“I Couldn’t Stop Smiling and Laughing As I Walked Down the Street”
He then celebrated by going for a walk to get out the house and buy something for tea. It was a weird feeling for the winner, who was still coming to terms with what had happened. Trying to put it all into words, he recollected: "I couldn't stop smiling and laughing as I walked down the street, it must've been pretty funny to see. The whole thing was just so surreal and life-changing."
The couple are currently undecided about what to do with their winnings, but thoughts have already turned to the possibility of buying a house, a new car, going on holiday and helping out their family members financially. He added: "We're not extravagant people and have always been careful with money, so we keep looking at things and thinking 'nah, that's too expensive' – then I catch myself. We're going to be pretty sensible with the winnings – it's a life-changing prize and I want to make it last."
It is the second time the Powerball jackpot has been won in three draws, following an NZ$8 million windfall won on 9th February by a young couple from West Auckland. They are also the lottery’s fourth jackpot winners of the year, following on from last month’s two – a NZ$22 million win in Taranaki and $NZ1.2 million prize awarded in Manawatu.
Powerball is available to NZ Lotto players for an additional fee, and draws are held on Wednesdays and Saturdays. NZ$5 million of this jackpot win came from Powerball, with an additional NZ$500,000 won in Lotto. The Powerball jackpot is worth an estimated NZ$4 million ahead of the upcoming draw this Wednesday, and you can follow in the footsteps of the Christchurch winner by visiting any licensed retailer in New Zealand or by playing online from various locations around the world.