‘I have never been so calm’
The winners of the $42.1 million Powerball jackpot say it “feels unreal” and is taking some time to sink in that they are taking home the second biggest prize in Lotto’s history.
The lucky family came forward to collect their prize yesterday after they only realised Powerball had been struck on Thursday morning when they read the news.
A female member of the family said her first thought was “good on them” when she heard the prize had been won.
“I always think that when I see an article about someone winning.
“But I really didn’t think much of it until I saw the winning ticket was sold at Countdown Po¯keno.
“I genuinely never imagined I’d have the winning ticket, but the article was enough to make me fish my wallet out of my bag and check my ticket.”
The woman then checked the results on Mylotto.
“The winning numbers almost seemed to jump out at me,” she said. “I didn’t know what to do next, I was sure I must be making some sort of mistake. I always imagined whooping and cheering if I won, but 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.”
When her husband arrived she jumped up to tell him they were now multimillionaires.
“I’d barely stepped inside when she raced over and blurted out ‘we’ve just won $42m with Powerball’ — it took a second or two to get my head around what she had said,” he said.
“My wife handed me the ticket and asked me to check it as well, just 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.”
The family said the $42m windfall meant they were now planning for their future.
“This prize is going to make a real difference both to our family and those in our community.
“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.
“Even now, it feels unreal — it’s a lot to get our heads around. We feel incredibly lucky and want to take some time to really think things through and make sure we have a good plan in place to set our family up for the future,” said the woman.
On Thursday Jatinder Chahal, manager of Countdown Po¯keno where the lucky ticket was bought, said there was a buzz around the area, with staff also wondering if it was them who sold the ticket.
The supermarket team was “walking on air” after playing a part in one of New
Zealand’s biggest Lotto wins.
“We’re not sure yet what team member sold the winning ticket, but everyone wants to be that lucky person — maybe they’re hoping the luck will rub off.
“There’s a real buzz in the Po¯keno community — lots of our customers have been congratulating the team and everyone is in high spirits.
“It’s the first big Lotto win our store has had since opening in February — up to now it’s been a few thousands of dollars that have been won — which is still good, but not as good as $42m, I’m guessing.”
That buzz of excitement was so intense around the country on Wednesday night it brought Lotto’s website and app to its knees, causing hours-long delays for people wanting to see if they had struck it big.
The $42m pool is the second largest Powerball win in Lotto history, beaten only by a $44m prize won by a young couple from the Hibiscus Coast in November 2016.
Po¯keno residents had been trying to figure out whether the winner was a local or someone from out of town.
Helen Clotworthy, owner of Po¯keno Bacon, believed it was more likely going to be a local given the border and alert level restrictions. “It isn’t me,” she said when answering the Herald’s call.
“We think it’s somebody local because we are right on the border and [there’s] no though traffic coming through now.
“It’s a bit of excitement for us all.”