Hamilton's latest Powerball winner has claimed his $10.2 million prize after winning Powerball first division last Saturday.
The winning ticket was purchased at Whitcoulls at The Base, Te Rapa. The lucky Lotto player has only now come forward to claim the money - despite knowing he had the winning numbers all week.
The man checked his ticket last Sunday, unaware that Powerball had been struck by a player from Hamilton.
"I have a bit of a routine every Sunday morning where I check my Lotto ticket while eating breakfast," the man, who wishes to remain anonymous, told Lotto.
The man first noticed the winning Powerball number was 5, his lucky number.
"Number 5 is my lucky number so I always choose to play it," said the man.
He then noticed he had matched the first three numbers on the same line while checking the rest of his ticket.
"It wasn't until I saw that I had the next three numbers as well that it really dawned on me what it all meant — I was $10.2 million richer!" said the man.
He called his sister, who raced over to check the numbers on the Lotto NZ app.
"When we scanned it, the words 'Major Prize winner' appeared. It was all the confirmation I needed," said the man.
The man held onto the multi-million dollar ticket for the next week as he got things in order before travelling up to Auckland to claim the money.
He held a pizza night with his family to surprise them with the incredible news.
The winner claimed his prize in person at Lotto's Head Office in Auckland and is taking time to ponder what he might do with his prize.
"I want to start ticking things off my bucket list, so the first thing I want to do is go travelling. Escaping to a European summer sounds like a good idea to me," he said.
This is the tenth time Powerball First Division has been struck so far this year. Another lucky person won less than a month before last Saturday's draw, claiming $9.2 million in Auckland. The year started off with a bang after a Taranaki player won $22.3 million.
Newshub.
