{"id":592944,"date":"2026-09-07T13:48:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T13:48:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/592944\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T13:48:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T13:48:13","slug":"what-the-gisborne-28-5m-lotto-winner-could-buy-close-to-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/592944\/","title":{"rendered":"What the Gisborne $28.5m Lotto winner could buy close to home"},"content":{"rendered":"

One Gisborne local went to bed on Saturday an ordinary Kiwi, and woke up $28.5 million richer. <\/p>\n

The winning Powerball ticket was sold at Grant Bros Homeware & Gifts on Gladstone Rd \u2014 and it’s got the whole district wondering exactly what that kind of money could buy.<\/p>\n

Store owner Renee Grant is still coming to terms with it.<\/p>\n

“It was definitely a big shock when we got the call to let us know, it’s unbelievable,” she told 1News<\/a>. <\/p>\n

“It’s a phenomenal amount for anyone to win but to be the store to sell that, it’s quite a shock and quite a lot to get your head around.”<\/p>\n

Gisborne’s population sits at around 52,700. If the mystery winner were to split the windfall evenly across the district, $28.5 million works out to roughly $541 for every single person\u2014 man, woman and child.<\/p>\n

Or, more generously: a $1000 handout to 28,500 people \u2014 more than half the district’s population \u2014 or a life-changing $1 million each to 28 lucky mates.<\/p>\n

\"Overlooking<\/p>\n

Overlooking the town of Gisborne, New Zealand from Kaiti Hill. (Source: istock.com)<\/p>\n

But if the winner were to keep the cash and invest in property, REINZ’s March 2026 figures put Gisborne’s regional median house price at $640,000. On that basis, $28.5 million is enough to buy about 44 average homes outright.<\/p>\n

Even in Whataupoko, Gisborne’s most expensive suburb with a median of $783,750, the winner could still buy around 36 properties mortgage-free.<\/p>\n

Gisborne’s property market does have something with a bit more flair on offer.<\/p>\n

Acton Estate \u2014 a 740sqm, 10-bedroom historic property on 8.52 hectares, complete with a billiards room, formal lounge, commercial kitchen, tennis court, golf course, and its own barn and stables \u2014 is currently listed with inquiries north of $5 million.<\/p>\n

The 117-year-old estate is a registered NZ Historic Places Trust building, has done stints as a hotel, B&B, wedding venue and company guest house, and comes with grand gardens, heirloom orchards and specimen trees thrown in.<\/p>\n

The Gisborne win comes just days before a major shake-up to the game. <\/p>\n

From September 13<\/a>, the number of Powerballs will rise from 10 to 14, and the maximum Powerball jackpot will lift from $50 million to $60 million.<\/p>\n

A new eighth prize division is also being introduced, with a $12 payout \u2014 a change Lotto NZ says will create more winners overall, even as the odds of striking the very top prize get harder.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One Gisborne local went to bed on Saturday an ordinary Kiwi, and woke up $28.5 million richer. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":592945,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[12506,111,43,139,69,244],"class_list":["post-592944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-gisborne","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-personal-finance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=592944"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592944\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/592945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=592944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=592944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=592944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}