New car no biggie for Lotto winner

Aotearoa’s latest multi-millionaire plans to take things “one step at a time”, as he and his family figure out what to do with their $24.25 million Lotto win.

The regular player, who wished to remain anonymous, bought a Triple Dip for the October 7 draw last Wednesday at Woolworths Wainuiomata in Lower Hutt while on a trip to Wellington.

Despite not watching the draw or knowing the winning numbers — or even checking his ticket until Monday — the man said he had a “sneaky suspicion” that his ticket was the jackpotwinning ticket.

“I’d heard from family that the winner had bought the ticket from the same shop I had, so I couldn’t wait to check it.

“I hurriedly went to the store to check, and when the store person confirmed I was the winner, I yelled, ‘Oh my gosh!’

“I was jumping up and down. I didn’t know what to do with my hands and didn’t trust myself not to start screaming and shouting.”

There were “lots of tears” when the man surprised his family with the happy news.

The prize is made up of $24m from Powerball First Division and $250,000 from Lotto First Division.

He described a pragmatic approach to spending the winnings and said his priority was making sure his family was taken care of.

“I’m definitely not going to rush out and buy 10 new cars or anything.”

At the top of the list of priorities was paying off the family’s debts and making some good investments, he said.

“My family and I will sit down and have a chat about it next week.

“We hope to make some wise decisions about the things we need and the things we want – and the needs will come first.”