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Champagne dreams come true for $16.2 million winners
Champagne dreams come true for Hamilton’s $16.2 million Powerball winners
After more than a week of searching
for Hamilton’s big Powerball winner, a local couple have
claimed the $16.2 million Powerball prize.
As the largest prize ever won in Hamilton, the city has been abuzz with excitement since news of the big win broke over a week ago – and it was this buzz that led the winner to claim their multi-million dollar prize.
“I was out for lunch with a couple of mates when one of them mentioned the big Powerball win,” explained one of the winners. “I hadn’t even heard the jackpot had been won until then.”
As the friends chatted about the $16.2 million win, the winner realised he had bought his ticket that week from Countdown Hamilton – the same store that had sold the massive prize.
“When I mentioned it they joked, ‘Are you the winner?’. I just laughed and said ‘there’s no way it could be me – I haven’t even looked at my ticket!’”
But when the winner got home he decided he should check the ticket he’d bought the week before, just in case.
“I circled the numbers off one by one, and slowly realised that I had all the winning numbers on the same line. I was absolutely stunned – I just couldn’t believe it.”
As soon as they could, the couple then drove up from Hamilton to collect their winnings from Lotto New Zealand’s head office in Auckland – making sure to keep their ticket close at all times.
“I put the ticket safe and sound in a little bag and made sure I had it on me at all times – until I’d claimed that prize.”
The couple made the most of their time in the city – and their newfound fortune – by taking it all in with a celebratory champagne lunch at one of Auckland’s top restaurants.
“We wanted to have a special lunch with our family to celebrate the big win. But other than that, who knows what we’re going to do with the money? But we’ve got the rest of our lives to work that out.”
The $16.2 million prize is the 11th largest Powerball prize ever won and the third largest Powerball prize won this year.
The winning ticket was sold at Countdown Hamilton.
ends
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