Lottery: Lucky Palmerston North resident wins $ 14.3 million

One lucky Palmerston North resident has won $ 14.3 million in tonight’s Lotto drawing.

The jackpot of the last big winner in the country was made up of $ 14 million from Powerball First Division and $ 333,333 from Lotto First Division.

The gold ticket was sold at Melody’s New World in Palmerston North.

Two other Ashburton and Kaiapoi Lottery winners will also be celebrating after winning $ 333,333 with Lotto First Division tonight. The winning lottery tickets were sold at Kaiapoi New World and at MyLotto to an Ashburton player.

Strike Four was also won tonight by a player from Christchurch, who took home $ 200,000. The strike winning ticket was sold at Wainoni Pak’NSave in Christchurch.

The big win comes three weeks after a lucky ticket from Morrinsville won $ 5.5 million in Powerball First Division. But the award has yet to be claimed.

Lotto NZ has urged anyone who has purchased a Powerball ticket at Paper Plus Morrinsville to check their ticket to see if they are the big winner.

The $ 5.5 million prize pool was made with $ 5 million from Powerball First Division and $ 500,000 from Lotto First Division.

Marie Winfield of Lotto NZ says most Powerball winners claim their prize within days of winning big.

“The winner may know they have the winning ticket out of luck and could be letting the news leak, or they may not realize that their little yellow ticket is worth millions,” he said.

“We can’t wait to meet you and celebrate your incredible victory.”

In December 2019, a $ 17.1 million prize was unclaimed for more than three weeks as the South Island winner quietly accepted the enormity of his win, staying low for a time before submitting to Lotto NZ.

And in August 2019, a $ 12.2 million winner only found out that they had taken the prize when Lotto NZ contacted them via MyLotto where they had purchased the ticket.

One winner got the surprise of this lifetime when Lotto NZ showed up at his Christchurch home to tell him he had won $ 22 million.

He had thought the prize had already been claimed.

Winfield said there have already been 25 Powerball winners so far this year.