Telling someone they've won Lotto
Saturday, 16 September 2017
An elderly person sobs uncontrollably down the phone - they've just been told they'd won $1 million. A couple strikes a $5m win on their first go.
For the staff at Lotto, changing people's lives is just part of the job description - the fun part is sharing that moment with the winners.
A little while ago, a woman from the South Island won $10,000 with Instant Kiwi, and Lotto man Jimmy Wales was the one to let her know 'it was real'.
The Lotto helpdesk team leader said you never knowing how a winner is going to react.
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'Most are pretty surprised and shocked, and they can't believe it's really happening.
'One elderly person that won over $1 million was bawling, absolutely sobbing down the phone when I confirmed it. I felt like reaching down the phone and giving her a huge hug.
'One guy who won the first division didn't seem that excited, but then he revealed he had won first division the year before.'
The jackpot is at $30 million for Saturday night's draw and Wales, an avid player, will be in to win with the same numbers he chooses each week.
Unfortunately lady luck has yet to shine on him.
'I have spoken to a couple who won $5 million on the first ticket they ever bought, so it does work,' he said.
'It keeps me going knowing that.'
On Friday a young Wellington woman won $1 million in Lotto and screamed at the top of her lungs.
Sharon, who didn't want her last name used, said the whole street probably heard her.
She said she called for her teenage son to help her check her ticket, and they both counted the zeroes after the number 1 in front.
The best-known Lotto winner is Trevor Cooper, the supermarket checkout operator from Waikato.
Cooper was living week-by-week when he won $27 million in 2012.
In November 2016 an Auckland couple won the biggest jackpot in New Zealand lottery history.
They were struggling to get on the property ladder when the couple from the Hibiscus Coast claimed the prize.
A family in Masterton struck lottery gold in 2009, winning $36.8 million.
The winning family syndicate was made up of a great-grandmother, her two daughters, and her granddaughter. They paid off student loans, and donated two ambulances to the Masterton Free Ambulance service, Lotto NZ said.
In 2013 a man won another large individual prize of $33 million.
While the win reportedly stressed the man, his first thought went to family and friends.
In 2010 a pig hunter from Papakura took out a $28.7 million lotto jackpot. He drove down to Wellington to collect the winnings.
Lotto said anyone who bought their ticket from any of the winning stores should write their name on the back and check it immediately at any Lotto outlet, online at mylotto.co.nz or through the Lotto NZ App.
HISTORY OF THE BIG ONES
* November 2016: Powerball rolls over and jackpots to $44m, which an Auckland couple won.
* July 2016: Powerball jackpots to $40m
* September 2013: $33m Powerball prize won by a player in West Auckland.
* September 2012: Big Wednesday prize of $27m won by young Tauranga man who bought ticket when getting his hair cut.
* March 2012: A $26m Powerball First Division prize won by buyer from the small town of Te Kauwhata.
* April 2011: Powerball reached its second-ever $30m 'Must Be Won' jackpot. It went on to climb to $35m.
* October 2010: $28.7m Powerball prize won by a player in Papakura in Auckland.
* October 2009: A $22.4m Powerball prize won by buyer from Manukau in Auckland.
* June 2009: Big Wednesday reached $36m. It was won by a family syndicate.
* October 2008: Lotto Powerball reached $30m. Five winners split the prize.
* September 2005: Kathy Laugesen became the first person win $1m on Lotto's Winning Wheel.