A woman from Kawerau has described the moment she circled the numbers on her Lotto ticket and discovered that she had won a share of the record $55 million must be won Powerball jackpot.
The prize drawn on November 15 was was the 13th must be won draw in Lotto New Zealand's history.
The three winners took home $18,333,333 million from Powerball First Division and $55,556 from Lotto First Division.
The woman, who wished to remain anonymous, said she bought her ticket from New World Kawerau after joining the long line of people queuing for ticket.
"The queue was so long, and people were chatting about what they would do if they won," she said.
It wasn't until early Monday morning that she started to believe she could be the holder of the very lucky ticket.
"I checked the Powerball first – because I knew I had number six – and that's when I started to get an inkling it might be me. Then I circled the Lotto numbers on my ticket and saw I had all the other six numbers too!"
To steady her nerves, she went to have coffee with her mum and told her.
"I was in a bit of a daze and said, 'Mum, I think I'm the big winner,' and she just cracked up laughing at me."
The woman thought the best thing to do would be to head to a store to find out for sure.
"I handed it over to the operator and gave him a heads up that it might be a big prize."
"Then he just looked up at me with a big smile on his face, and that's when I knew it was true."
Later that evening, she invited some of her family over to share the good news.
"She didn't say much on the phone – just to come over and that it was nothing bad. That’s when I started to wonder if she was the winner!" said one of the woman's children.
"When we walked in, I asked what was going on, and Mum came over with a huge smile on her face. My partner asked, 'have you won the Lotto or something?’ and she just looked at us and said, 'yes I have'."
"I'll never forget that moment," they said.
"Sharing the news with my family was amazing and felt like such a weight had been lifted," said the woman.
More than a week on from the big draw, Kawerau was still abuzz with talk of who the winner might be.
"It's strange hearing people around town talking about the win and seeing it in the news.
"Every time I go out I just have to keep reminding myself ‘I'm an ordinary person and this is an ordinary day'," she said.
The woman has plans to help family and causes close to her heart.
"I'm looking forward to being able to help my family with this win and also have some charities I’d like to donate to, so I’m going to take some time to figure out the best way to do that," she said.
In eight of the 13 previous Must Be Won draws, the jackpot has been split by multiple winners.
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