A New Plymouth woman who won big with Lotto Powerball last week said her "whole body went numb", and that was before she even knew the extent of her $14.3 million prize.
The prize was made up of $14 million from Powerball First Division and $333,333 from Lotto First Division.
The woman, who wished to remain anonymous, had been playing the same Lotto numbers for years, but recently decided to lock in her Powerball number after a long time of choosing a random one.
"It's funny, but about six months ago I chose to make my 'go-to' Powerball number five, and I have stuck with it ever since."
On Thursday, she heard Powerball had been struck and logged onto MyLotto to check her ticket.
"It's like I was cheering my ticket on," she laughed. "I got three numbers and said, 'keep going.' Then it was four – 'keep going.' Then five. I knew if I got the next number I'd be winning a big prize – and it came out – I had all six numbers.
"Then by the time I'd processed that, I saw the Powerball circle, and I dropped my phone in shock – I didn't even know how much it was at that point, but my whole body went numb."
The first person she called was her mother, who she had been speaking with days earlier about the possibility of a Lotto win.
"I said to her – 'wouldn't it be amazing to win and be able to help people with that money – I'd definitely set you up'. I just can't believe we are here a week later."
The pair "cried on the phone for a while" before the woman decided it was time to call her husband, whom she had "ummed and ahhed" about waiting for to get home before relaying the good news.
"I asked him if he was alone, and when he said yes, I blurted out 'we've won $14 million.' He said the rest of the day was a bit of a struggle."
Over the weekend, the couple shared a takeaway and had a glass of champagne to celebrate their win.
"We'll celebrate with our family in the future – but for now that was perfect."
The couple were taking time to let the enormity of their win sink in and exploring what they might do with the money.
"One thing we know is that we want to help others with this. We just need time to figure out the best way to do that."
Nine multi-millionaires have been created by Lotto Powerball this year.
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