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The family bought their ticket at New World Waitaki in Oamaru, receiving $ 18 million for Powerball and another $ 250,000, a quarter of the $ 1 million First Division prize that was divided among four players.
The family, who wished to remain anonymous, are North Otago residents who purchase a Triple Dip ticket several times a month, but tickets were given away for the December 23 and 26 drawings.
“Our minds are still spinning,” said the man.
“We heard that the winning ticket had been purchased at the Waitaki New World in Oamaru, which is where we always buy our tickets, but we had to wait until we got home to check ours.
“I checked it and I couldn’t believe we had all the numbers. I must have checked it ten more times,” he said.
Even then he was unconvinced and scanned the ticket into the MyLotto app scanner, and the words “Jackpot Winner” appeared on the screen.
“I screamed out loud ‘It’s us!'” The woman said.
“I told my kids and they all started crying. We couldn’t believe it,” he said.
Since then, the couple visited Waitaki New World to confirm their victory. “It’s still sinking,” the man said.
“We have so many thoughts running through our heads, it still doesn’t feel real.”
The family plans to spend the New Year holidays celebrating their life-changing victory, while letting the news leak.
“It is very early and we have a lot to think about, but what we do know is that we want to help people in need.
“Our goal is to make a difference in the lives of the people who really need it, and a victory like this allows us to achieve that.
“We also want to help our children and the family in general, and at some point we will probably give ourselves a new car.”
Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher said he was happy the award went to a family in the district.
Kircher said there was no shortage of suggestions circulating around town, but he personally hoped that whoever won the grand prize would enjoy what they spent.
“$ 18 million can do a lot of good,” Kircher said.
Store owner Greg Flannery said there was a stir among staff, customers, and the city, and the store was certainly getting a little more attention than usual.
“Customers are excited and have asked a lot of questions about it.
“The staff is really excited to think that the store sold a ticket of that magnitude.”
As far as he knew, the store had never sold a ticket with such a large prize, he said.
“As an owner, we also owned Temuka New World, we had never sold a ticket of this scale.”
Flannery said that while he hadn’t heard any rumors about who the lucky winner might be, a common comment was that people expected him to be a local and deserving person.
The winning ticket was sold at Waitaki New World in Oamaru for the drawing on Saturday, December 26, 2020.
