Family didn’t think $30m win was real

Syndicate says Lotto prize ‘won’t change lives drastically’, plan to help good causes

The winner of the $30 million Lotto Powerball jackpot has been revealed as a family syndicate from Wellington. Lotto said in a statement the family are occasional players who only buy a ticket when the jackpot tops $20m.

The lucky numbers were 11, 14, 20, 31, 33 and 36, the bonus ball was 26 and the Powerball was 2.

The man who bought the ticket said his daughter-in-law transferred their portion of the ticket to him straight away.

“She told me she didn’t want to owe me anything,” he laughed.

On Saturday night, the man said he had seen the news that the ticket had been won in Carterton — so did not think any further about their ticket. But an email from MyLotto said he had won a major prize.

Instead of checking the ticket on his own, he called for his family to come around; saying that whatever they had won, he wanted them to find out together as a family.

When the magic numbers came up — showing they had pocketed just over $30m, they were in complete disbelief, he said.

They also won an extra $166,667 from Lotto First Division. Their total prize is the largest of 2024 so far.

“We really didn’t think it was real — why would you? We were so shocked and just kept staring at each other saying: ‘What? How?’” the man who bought the ticket said.

Just before they checked their ticket, he said his son had decided that if they had won “a few thousand”, he would treat him and his wife to a new king-sized bed.

He said they were still coming to terms with the life-changing win and revealed they all still got up for work on Monday morning.

“We’ve lived a modest life and we don’t plan to change our lives drastically,” he said.

“We know what it’s like to go through hard times, so this win will make all of our lives that bit easier.”

As for what’s on the family’s wish list, the man said: “You always dream of winning Powerball and in your head, you’ve mapped out what you’ll do. But it’s so different when you actually win.”

He said it was “important to us to help the charities and causes that are close to our hearts, so we’ll do that down the track too”.