$5.5m Powerball winner yet to claim money

AUCKLAND: A multimillionaire could be celebrating their long weekend completely unaware they had won $5.5 million.

More than a week on from Lotto’s Powerball draw, the lucky winner still has not claimed their big win.

Lotto NZ has urged anyone who bought a Powerball ticket from Paper Plus Morrinsville for last Saturday’s draw to check their ticket and see if they were a winner.

The $5.5 million prize is made up of $5 million from Powerball First Division and $500,000 from Lotto First Division.

Marie Winfield, of Lotto NZ, said most Powerball winners claimed their prize within a few days of winning big, but some took their time and sat with the lifechanging news for a few days.

‘‘The winner may know that they have the lucky winning ticket and could just be letting the news sink in, or they may be completely unaware that their little yellow ticket is worth millions,’’ she said.

In December last year, a $17.1 million prize went unclaimed for more than three weeks, as the South Island winner quietly came to terms with the enormity of their win, lying low for a while before coming forward to Lotto NZ.

In August last year, a $12.2 milliondollar winner was only made aware they had scooped the prize when Lotto NZ contacted them through the MyLotto on which they had bought the ticket. — The New Zealand Herald