$50m Lotto Powerball jackpot: $5m win for Auckland family 'surreal'
Monday, 17 August 2020
An Auckland family who claimed their share of Lotto’s $50 million Powerball have labelled the experience “surreal”.
Despite more than 2 million tickets being sold for Saturday’s draw, there were no First Division winners again, so the jackpot rolled down to Powerball Second Division, where there were 10 winners.
The 10 lucky Powerball players from around the country each won a $5m share of Saturday night’s must-be-won $50m Powerball jackpot.
West Auckland’s Lincoln Heights Superette in Massey confirmed one of the winning tickets was purchased from its store and the winners claimed their prize on Sunday.
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Manager Prav Masters said he was “stoked” as the store had been waiting to sell a ticket with such a big prize.
Masters said they had sold a number of winning tickets with prizes worth thousands of dollars in the past but this was the biggest so far.
Masters said the winners came in on Sunday, appearing nervous.
He said they used the word “surreal” when describing the experience, and they were “over the Moon” with their win.
“It’s really cool,” Masters said. “It’s great for the community and everyone is really buzzed.”
Having such a win in their community gave other Lotto players in the area hope, he said.
A Lotto spokeswoman said the Auckland winners who claimed their prize were “a very deserving family”.
Following numerous complaints from hopeful millionaires before and after both of last week’s draws, Lotto is undergoing a tech makeover.
Some customers didn’t receive tickets they had paid for, some had issues buying them online two hours before sales closed, and others were unable to check if they held a winning ticket.