Hutt Valley stores on a winning streak

Paper Plus stores in the Hutt Valley are on a winning streak, Lotto wise.

An Upper Hutt gambler is $1 million better off after winning the first division in Wednesday night’s lottery draw with a ticket bought at the city’s Paper Plus store in The Mall.

The million dollar strike comes a week after a Wellington woman found herself $500,000 richer thanks to an impulse decision to buy a Lotto ticket at the Petone Paper Plus.

The news last Wednesday’s million dollar ticket had been sold in the Upper Hutt store was spreading the next morning.

Manager Jeremy Van Den Borst learned of the local success when the store owner posted to staff on a Facebook page on Wednesday evening.

‘‘I saw it on Stuff too and then this morning we got a message from Lotto that there had been the one winner and the ticket was bought here.

‘‘It’s exciting, it’s been a while. The last time we had a first division winner here was in 2005.’’

The Lotto counter, staffed by locals Sam Branje-Moreland and Lorien Ridley, was chugging away and customers were happy to know the big prize had gone local.

Whether the winner lives from Upper Hutt, and other details, will not be known for days, if they are made public at all.

‘‘We don’t know any more than that we sold it. The ticket might even have been bought a few weeks ago, we’ve no idea,’’ Van Den Borst said.

The Petone winner, who wishes to remain anonymous, told Lotto she bought her ticket on impulse.

‘‘I was driving past the store and there was a park right outside, so I just pulled in and grabbed a ticket.

‘‘I don’t know how to explain it,’’ she said.

‘‘You always think you know how you’re going to react if you ever win Lotto, but when it actually happens, it’s totally different.

‘‘There was no falling to the ground or jumping about. I was so numb I just sat there,’’ she said.

She is starting to think about what the win means.

‘‘Top of the list is paying off the mortgage, followed by a holiday,’’ the October 4 winner said.

Now those big decisions, with a prize double the Petone success, await the latest local Lotto winner.

THE BIG ONES

November 2016: Powerball rolls over and jackpots to $44m, which an Auckland couple won. July 2016: Powerball jackpots to $40m September 2013: $33m Powerball prize won by a player in West Auckland. September 2012: Big Wednesday prize of $27m won by young Tauranga man who bought ticket when getting his hair cut. March 2012: A $26m Powerball First Division prize won by buyer from the small town of Te Kauwhata. April 2011: Powerball reached its second-ever $30m ‘Must BeWon’ jackpot. It went on to climb to $35m. October 2010: $28.7m Powerball prize won by a player in Papakura in Auckland. October 2009: A $22.4m Powerball prize won by buyer from Manukau in Auckland. June 2009: Big Wednesday reached $36m. It was won by a family syndicate. October 2008: Lotto Powerball reached $30m. Five winners split the prize.