Local Pōkeno family claims $42m Lotto Powerball jackpot prize
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A local Pōkeno family has stepped forward to claim the life-changing $42 million prize from Wednesday's Lotto Powerball draw.
Upon hearing the winning ticket was purchased at Countdown Pōkeno in Waikato, the town of 3320 people was abuzz with excitement, two locals telling Newshub they knew who the winner was.
The winner, who wishes to remain anonymous, said after hearing Powerball had been struck, her first reaction was "good on them".
Upon looking at the news online on Thursday and seeing where the winning ticket was sold, she fished out her Lotto ticket - but "never imagined" it would be hers.
But as she started checking the winning numbers, her focus was on a single line.
“I don’t know why, but that one line of my ticket stood out to me from the moment I started checking - I barely even looked at the other lines, the winning numbers almost seemed to jump out at me," the winner said.
As the huge windfall slowly dawned, the woman said although she'd imagined the typical reaction of "whooping and cheering" if she won, she "didn't know what to do next".
"I have never been so calm in my life…I popped the ticket back in my wallet and waited for my husband to come inside from the garden."
The news took a couple of seconds to register, her husband said, adding that his wife asked him to check the ticket to make sure.
"I checked it, then checked it again - and again!
"But no matter how many times I checked the ticket I kept getting the same thing - all six numbers and the Powerball on the one line. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing."
Although the win still feels "unreal", the couple plan to take time to think things through and put together a plan for the family's future.
"Not only will we be able to help out the kids, but we’ll also be able to help the people around us - we love where we live and are looking forward to being able to help out and support local businesses," the winners said.
Wednesday's $42 million Lotto Powerball Jackpot draw is the second-largest prize ever won in New Zealand. The largest prize was won in November 2016, by a couple from Hibiscus Coast.
Since Lotto started, 1024 Kiwis have become millionaires - 34 this year, Lotto said.
Although winning numbers are purely random, number 2 has come up 178 times since the game began, making it the most frequently drawn Powerball number, Lotto said.
The most commonly drawn Lotto number is 1, having been drawn 412 times since Lotto started in 1987.
The odds of winning Powerball are 1 in 38 million for a single line.
