{"id":624849,"date":"2026-10-09T00:12:16","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T00:12:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/624849\/"},"modified":"2026-10-09T00:12:16","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T00:12:16","slug":"fillet-steak-gold-plated-toothbrush-15-3m-lotto-winners-wishlist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/624849\/","title":{"rendered":"Fillet steak, gold-plated toothbrush: $15.3m Lotto winner’s wishlist"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Auckland man went “white as a sheet” when he woke his wife with news they had won $15.3 million<\/a> in Powerball, the first jackpot<\/a> claimed under the new 14-ball format<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The couple, who want to remain anonymous, play Lotto regularly and found out about their win during their usual Sunday routine.<\/p>\n

The man said he had been checking his ticket on MyLotto, as he did every Sunday morning, when his numbers kept coming up.<\/p>\n

“It was unbelievable,” he said.<\/p>\n

His wife was still in bed, so he went straight to wake her. She said she thought something terrible had happened.<\/p>\n

“He stood there and was as white as a sheet,” the woman said.<\/p>\n

A new top prize of $60m – but a mathematician explains why it’s never been harder to win. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

He said nothing and showed her the winning ticket. Unsure whether she was awake or dreaming, she asked if he was kidding.<\/p>\n

“I kept saying, ‘No, it can’t be right. How can it be right? There must be something wrong.’ It felt so surreal,” she said.<\/p>\n

The couple said the rest of the day was a blur. They left the house for a walk and some lunch to find some normality but felt too sick to eat.<\/p>\n

For now they are keeping the win quiet, the man said. The couple plan to tell their children once they have “got our own heads around it”.<\/p>\n

The woman said the money would set their children up and help the couple fulfil a long-held wish to retire near the beach.<\/p>\n

“We’re not extravagant people so we’re not looking for anything flash – just somewhere our family can come and be together,” she said.<\/p>\n

There may be a few treats along the way. The man said a new phone was first on his list, followed by perhaps “a gold-plated toothbrush”, he joked.<\/p>\n

His wife has been keeping him grounded. She said he had floated the idea of a gold Rolex, but he did not even wear a watch.<\/p>\n

“I have been looking at the price of steak a little differently since we won, though,” she said. <\/p>\n

“We might even treat ourselves to fillet instead of rump next time we go grocery shopping.”<\/p>\n

Powerball wins in 2026:<\/p>\n

January 14: $10.2 million (Manawat\u016b-Whanganui)<\/p>\n

January 21: $5.3 million (Otago)<\/p>\n

February 14: $5.08 million (Paraparaumu)<\/p>\n

February 14: $5.08 million (Masterton)<\/p>\n

February 14: $5.08 million (Greymouth)<\/p>\n

February 18: $4.5 million (Auckland)<\/p>\n

March 28: $12.75 million (Auckland)<\/p>\n

March 28: $12.75 million (Auckland)<\/p>\n

April 15: $14.3 million (New Plymouth)<\/p>\n

April 22: $5.5 million (Auckland)<\/p>\n

June 3: $28.6 million (Ashburton)<\/p>\n

June 6: $4.5 million (Thames)<\/p>\n

July 25: $20.1 million (Auckland)<\/p>\n

July 25: $20.1 million (Auckland)<\/p>\n

September 5: $28.25 million (Gisborne)<\/p>\n

September 12: $5.03 million (Wellington)<\/p>\n

September 12: $5.15 million (Richmond)<\/p>\n

October 3: $15.3 million (Auckland)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An Auckland man went “white as a sheet” when he woke his wife with news they had won…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":624850,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[51,138,111,139,69,244],"class_list":["post-624849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-auckland","tag-business","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-personal-finance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624849","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=624849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624849\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/624850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=624849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=624849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=624849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}