A Southland man "walked around in a daze" for nearly an hour before waking up his wife after winning $6.3 millon in last week's Lotto draw.
The couple have opened up about their massive win with last Wednesday's Powerball First Division, revealing they've "been on such a high" ever since.
They purchased their ticket early in the week, but on the night of the big draw weren't in any hurry to check it. Instead, the man was more interested in the cricket.
"I was watching the cricket when I heard it had been won in Southland, so I checked the site around 11pm," he said. "When all my numbers lined up, I stared at the screen for about fifteen minutes and walked around in a daze for another 45!"
The man then stumbled to his bedroom where his wife was sleeping.
"I just held my phone up to her face and said, 'You need to look at this.' She was like, 'Are you serious?' We haven't had much sleep since."
The couple have since had some "celebratory beers" and have plenty of ideas for the future.
"It's great that money isn't an issue now and we can just enjoy things. But mainly, we want to take care of our family and make sure our children and future generations have a comfortable life."
He said it's a "pretty surreal" experience for this to happen "to everyday Kiwis".
"My mother cried when I told her, and my boss was great about it. He told me to enjoy the experience and joked that he probably wouldn't see me next year," the man said.
The winning ticket was sold on MyLotto and is the 19th Powerball First Division win of the year. The $6.3 million score is made up of $6 million from Powerball First Division and $333,333 from Lotto First Division.
The largest Powerball First Division win of the year was $28.1 million in March.
