Everyone's a winner baby!

Record jackpot split between Te Awamutu, Hamilton, Dunedin But as you head back to work tomorrow, cheer up:600,000 tikcets were winners

It’s an all-time fantasy for many Kiwis – and for three lucky punters winning Lotto has turned into a reality.

The combined win from the alltime highest jackpot of $40 million in Saturday night’s epic draw has been split three ways with each winner taking home nearly $13.3m.

The tickets were sold at Oparau Roadhouse in Te Awamutu, Pak N Save in Dunedin and online to a MyLotto player from Hamilton.

Oparau Roadhouse owners Bill and Brenda Rogers, who have owned the store for 26 years, said they sold 231 Powerball tickets before the draw.

‘‘We’re the largest shop in the middle of nowhere,’’ said Brenda.

About 2pm on Saturday, the couple received a call from Lotto to say they had sold a $10 crossword scratchy worth $200,000.

‘‘We got a second call about 8.30pm telling us we’d sold a $13m ticket, that blew us away, we were over the moon,’’ said Bill.

‘‘We do a lot of scratchies out here, it’s a lower income sort of area, people haven’t got a lot to spend.’’

Brenda said they hoped the winner was a local. ‘‘We hope it’s going to someone who’s really needy and it can help them change their lives.’’

Lotto’s website came to a crashing halt as punters from across the country tried to check whether they had the winning numbers.

More than half a million prizes were won, with two lucky players in Auckland and Waipapa taking home $405,792 in Strike Four.

Seven Lotto players from Gisborne, Tokoroa, and Auckland won a $142,857 share of Lotto First Division.

But now that three tickets have made newly minted millionaires out of at least three people – what will they do?

We hope it’s going to someone who’s really needy and it can help them change their lives Brenda Rogers

The possibilities are endless, but financial adviser Liz Koh urged them to ‘‘sit on it for a while’’.

‘‘Being in that situation, you have to sort of re-evaluate your life and think about what’s important to you,’’ she said.

‘‘Think, ‘how do I want to make this money last for me so I can enjoy my life?’’’

She said they should seek independent advice to help them prioritise their goals.

Past Lotto winners said they would urge others to keep the news of the windfall to a small circle of friends and family.

Psychologist Sara Chatwin said keeping it quiet for a while would also help prepare the winners for changes in their relationships, which would inevitably happen when large sums of money were involved.

‘‘You will be treated differently for different reasons by different people. Some people will be really genuinely happy for you and ask for nothing. But a certain percentage will ask for something.

‘‘They can be quite dispirited because usually they thought their friendships were better than that.’’

New Zealand’s most high-profile Lotto winner Trevor Cooper was working at Countdown when he won $27m.

He reportedly struck family problems soon afterwards, with some skipping out on his wedding to wife Sharie. He initially said he would stick with his job but later ditched it, and invested in property instead.

Another winner, who in 2015 picked up $12.3m, sums it up: ‘‘It’s a pretty amazing feeling to know that you don’t have to worry about money again.’’

Since then, she has paid off the kids’ mortgages, taken a couple of holidays and bought a new home. ‘‘Winning has opened so many doors for us.’’