A young Auckland couple says they cried tears of joy after finding out they had won millions of dollars in Lotto over the weekend.
The couple, who wish to remain anonymous, bagged a staggering $17.16 million with Powerball First Division.
They say they feel "incredibly lucky" and are hoping to use the money to set their family up for generations to come.
The man said they found out about their win on Sunday morning.
"I was flicking through things on my phone when I saw that Powerball had been won and that the winning ticket had been sold at West City Lotto, which is where my wife will often pick up our tickets," he said.
He then woke up his wife to confirm she had bought a ticket that week and they checked the numbers together.
"When I realised that we had the first three numbers, my hands started to shake - let alone when we had all six!" she said.
"Then I saw we had the winning Powerball number too... we just couldn't believe it. We sat there in total disbelief, checking and re-checking the ticket."
She says after the shock wore off they went directly to tell their family.
"My husband and I both had tears in our eyes when we arrived, so everyone was pretty worried and thought we had bad news to share. Then we told them we had won $17 million with Powerball and suddenly everyone was crying tears of joy," the woman said.
After heading to their local Lotto shop to have their ticket machine-checked, the couple then hid the ticket safely away in a cupboard so it would be safe until they could take it to Lotto's head office on Monday.
"I kept popping back and checking on the ticket so many times that day, just to make sure it was still there and that I wasn't dreaming - I've never been in that cupboard so often," the woman said.
Her husband says the family still can't quite believe their luck.
"This win has changed our lives overnight and we are still in a bit of shock to be honest. Family is incredibly important to us, so we want to make sure the win lasts for generations. We are just so excited to be able to set up our family for the future - we feel so incredibly lucky."
