Thames couple claims $27.3m Powerball win

  • 30/05/2017
Martina Four Square manager Sukhtal Singh (Supplied)
Martina Four Square manager Sukhtal Singh (Supplied)

A Thames couple were left speechless after claiming their $27.3m Lotto win - the fourth-largest Powerball prize in New Zealand.

The couple, who want to remain anonymous, said even days after their massive windfall, they still can't believe it.

"It still doesn't seem real. I keep crying every time I think about it," one of them says.

"We were lying in bed last night and I said to my husband, 'I'm cuddling a millionaire'. We both just cracked up laughing."

The prize was struck on Saturday night and had residents speculating about who the Waikato town's latest multi-millionaires were - including the winners themselves.

"We were having a cup of tea and just started talking about it and wondering who had won. Then we figured we should check our ticket, so at least we would know one way or the other," they couple says.

"So we pulled up the Lotto results on the computer and instantly the winning numbers just leapt out at me. I didn't even need to circle any of them, they all just lined up on the top row.

"Eventually I turned to my husband, in a flood of tears, and said, 'darling, I think we've won it.'"

They got their son to check the ticket in case it was a mistake, and also headed down to the Martina Four Square where they bought the ticket.

But wanting to keep their win under wraps, they kept driving after seeing a journalist staking out the store with a camera.

"We saw the photographer and just turned around and went home again," the couple said.

"We had another cup of tea to calm our nerves and a bit of a chat about what to do and then decided to phone the store and let them know we were the winners."

It was the biggest prize to be won from the Four Square, manager Sukhtal Singh says.

Sunday was packed with hopeful, but eventually defeated, Lotto players checking their tickets, he said.

Newshub.