An Auckland grandmother has had a life-changing start to the week after discovering her Powerball ticket sitting in her handbag had won $28.16 million.
The woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, said she buys Lotto tickets "from time to time" and had picked up a Triple Dip ticket ahead of Saturday night's draw - but didn't think much else of it until she was watching the news on Sunday night.
"I saw the store owners speaking on the news on Sunday night and I thought 'huh, that's where I bought my ticket' - I was really happy for the owners, they seemed thrilled. I imagined a little about what I would do if I was the lucky winner - but that was it, I didn't seriously think it was me!" laughed the woman.
It wasn't until Monday when the woman discovered just how lucky her little yellow ticket had become when she decided to check it while out shopping.
"I had a couple of tickets I needed to check, and I put them through the self-checker. One of them won me a bonus ticket, which I thought was pretty good - then when I scanned the next one I saw 'First Division' appear on the screen," said the woman.
"I just couldn't make sense of it, so I took the ticket to the counter and asked the lady to check it again for me. That's when she called the store owner over and they pointed at the sign saying 'big winner sold here' and whispered to me 'that's you!'
"My heart started racing, I just couldn't believe it. The owner took me out the back of the store to let me know exactly how much I'd won and sort out the paperwork somewhere private - which was good because by that stage I was shaking and crying, I was so overwhelmed."
On her way home - still wondering if it was real - the woman called her daughter and asked her to come home as soon as possible.
"I didn't know what was going on, I thought it was a family emergency!" laughed the daughter.
"But when I got to Mum's place, she pulled me aside and said, 'It's me - I've won the $28 million'. I just stared at her for a moment, then burst into tears - and Mum started crying too. We just stood there in a quiet corner of the house crying, then laughing, then crying again for a long time."
With the prize safely claimed, the woman is taking some time to think carefully about what she will do with her winnings, but she says whatever it is, it will be centred around her family.
"This win means so much to us and will make such a difference to our family - I feel so incredibly lucky," said the woman.
"I'm going to take some time to work out what I want to do next, but would love to buy a house - that's always been a dream of mine. And I'd love to have a swimming pool for my kids and grandchildren to enjoy."
The winning ticket was sold at Meg Star in Auckland, for the draw on Saturday.
She becomes the third player to win Powerball in 2022, with the two previous winners winning - $21 million on January 29 and $8.5 million on February 12.
The $28.16 million is the sixth largest Powerball prize ever won in New Zealand.
