An Auckland couple are “still in disbelief” after winning over $6.3 million in Saturday night’s Lotto Powerball draw.
The couple, who want remain anonymous, celebrated their win at the weekend as the country watched the Rugby World Cup final.
“I was about to text my wife – who was out at the time – when I saw an email notification from Lotto NZ,” the man said.
“It said I was a major prize winner, so I checked my ticket on MyLotto.”
“I scrolled all the way down to the bottom of my ticket before I saw the winning line, and even then, I didn’t know how much I’d won. I scrolled back up to see ‘$6,333,333’, and that’s when it hit me – I’d won the big one!”
When the man’s wife arrived home, she found him “thunderstruck”.
“As soon as she walked in, I showed her my phone, yelling, ‘Look at this! What does this mean?’”
She said he was “shocked” upon the realisation they were going to be millionaires.
“I couldn’t believe it! It was a surreal feeling – and not something I ever would have expected to happen.”
The couple let their families know and shared a bottle of champagne before trying to get to sleep.
“Whenever I was on the cusp of sleep, he’d nudge me and say, ‘What if we did this?’” the woman said.
“We keep thinking it’s not real and that it’s some elaborate hoax,” the man joked.
The couple are “incredibly grateful”, and called it a “wonderful feeling” not to worry about the future.
“We’re looking forward to being able to travel and buy our own place,” the woman said.
“We baulked when we saw the price of business class upgrades.”
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