A whole Lotto luck

New Zealand's luckiest Lotto stores reveal customers’ superstitions

Kissing tickets, rubbing old trophies and waiting for specific machines or servers — these are the superstitions of New Zealand’s luckiest Lotto store customers.

Powerball’s jackpot increased a further $5 million to an eye-watering $35m for tomorrow’s draw after it failed to be struck on Wednesday.

And if someone was lucky enough to bag the impressive haul, it would be the second-largest Powerball prize in NZ Lotto history.

At the country’s second-luckiest store ever, Richmond Night ’n Day in Nelson, owner David Smolenski said customers must have a sixthsense.

“Some customers wait for a specific machine or person to serve them, considering them luckier than the rest of us,” he said.

“Others only want to buy their tickets on a certain day at a certain time because it’s been lucky for them in the past.

“Then there’s the ones who want us to kiss their tickets for good luck — I couldn’t tell you how many times I’ve been asked to kiss people’s tickets.”

Meanwhile, the country’s luckiest Lotto store, Unichem Stortford Lodge Pharmacy, hopes it will crack 50 first division wins this weekend.

Having won 49 times since Lotto began in 1987, the Hastings store sells six times as many Lotto tickets as any other store in the region in a normal week alone. The store had been abuzz with customers ahead of the mammoth Powerball draw, store manager Carole Ormerod said.

“We have three machines going just to keep the queues down.” Elsewhere, with an impressive haul of 27 First Division wins under its belt, Berrymans was the luckiest store in the Auckland region. Most customers bought tickets without a fuss but others were a little different in their approach, said Browns Bay store owner Sue Gibson.

“We have a row of trophies on the counter for selling First Division tickets and some of our customers like to rub their ticket along the trophies for luck,” Gibson said. New Zealand’s biggest Lotto win was $44m, won by a Hibiscus Coast couple in November 2016.

The next-highest was $33m won by a self-proclaimed “westie” in September 2013, and $33m won by a syndicate in Taupo¯ in September 2017.