A "modest" Wellington family who are occasional Lotto players have claimed their life-changing $30 million winnings, but say their lives won't change drastically.
The family syndicate won $30.16 million on Saturday's draw. The prize was made up of $30 million from Powerball First Division and $166,667 from Lotto First Division.
It was largest prize won by a single ticket since August 2023, when a Paraparaumu couple won $37.125 million.
The family, who wanted to remain anonymous, waited to check the ticket together.
Before logging in to the MyLotto App, they discussed what they might have won and what they would do with the money.
The son decided that if they had won a few thousand, he'd treat himself and his wife to a king-size bed - little did he know he'd be able to buy a fair few king size beds after they checked their ticket.
The family watched as the animated draw circled their numbers one by one. Suddenly they heard the winning music and their ticket was stamped $30,166,667 at the top.
"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 dad said.
"How could it be us when the news said the winner was from Carterton?"
It turns out the family had mistakenly put Carterton down as their town when signing up to MyLotto.
The family are still coming to terms with their win, but plan to keep themselves grounded - all still heading to work on Monday morning despite knowing they were multi-millionaires.
"We've lived a modest life and we don't plan to change our lives drastically," the dad said.
"We know what it's like to go through hard times, so this win will make all of our lives that bit easier.
"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."
For a start, they plan to do some renovations and take a family holiday.
But they want to share their win too.
"It's also important to us to help the charities and causes that are close to our hearts, so we'll do that down the track too," the dad said.
And no doubt, his son and daughter-in-law will head out to get that new king size bed.
Luckily the money for the syndicate ticket was transferred so there'll be no confusion about who's won the prize.
"When I bought the ticket, my daughter-in-law transferred their portion of the ticket to me straight away, she told me she 'didn't want to owe me anything'," the dad said, laughing.
This is the fourth Powerball First Division winner of 2024 and the eighth biggest prize of all time.
It's also the biggest prize ever won on MyLotto online.
