The winning $28.25 million ticket of Saturday’s Lotto draw was sold at Grant Bros Homeware and Gifts in Gisborne. Photo / Google Maps
“I thought to myself ‘that’s nice, well done to them’, and carried on with what I was doing.”
After they pulled up their numbers, the excitement “really started building”.
The winner took out his ticket and they checked the numbers together.
“They started reading them out to me, ‘3, 14, 16, 23 …’ and before they could finish, I yelled, ‘31 and 34!’
“That’s when we all started screaming, jumping and hugging each other.”
He said it would be a moment he would remember for a long time.
After the family claimed their prize, they gathered the rest of the whānau to share the news.
“I started telling them the story of what happened earlier in the day and then stopped and said, ‘Well anyway, twenty-eight million, two hundred and fifty thousand dollars later…’.”
Seeing the expressions on his family’s faces was very special, he said.
The man said he was taking time to let the news sink in before he made any big decisions.
“I am incredibly grateful for this win. It puts me in a position to be able to help my family. To know that they’ll be looked after, that they will be set up for the future no matter what, means more than anything.”
The win was the second-biggest Powerball prize won on a single ticket this year.
Gisborne store celebrates win
Homeware store Grant Bros, which has been around since Lotto’s first draw 40 years ago, is also celebrating its biggest winning ticket to date.
Shop owner Renee Grant said they were thrilled for the city’s newest multimillionaire.
Grant told the Herald the shop’s only other Powerball winner was in 2017 when a ticket sold at the store won $6m.
“This is substantially a bigger amount … it’s definitely exciting, and we’re so happy for whoever it is.”
Gisborne Mayor Rehette Stoltz said the district was “buzzing”.
On Father’s Day morning, unaware of a big win in Gisborne, the man said he was around at his relative’s house giving him a hand. Photo / Lotto
What to do if you win
Ticket holders can immediately see if they have won if they bought a ticket through the MyLotto app. Prizes of $1000 or less are automatically credited to the winner’s account.
For prizes exceeding $1000, winners must complete an online prize claim form.
Winners with physical tickets must still visit a Lotto retailer to claim their prize.
For the Powerball jackpot to be claimed, a ticket holder must get all six Lotto numbers correct as well as the Powerball number.
Sign up to The Daily H, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.