Two lucky Powerball winners who split a $10 million jackpot last weekend are both looking at buying their first homes with their share of the prize.

The winners – an Auckland family and a Tauranga couple – both claimed their prizes within hours of each other on Sunday and are each taking home $5.25 million.

Each prize was made up of $5 million from Powerball First Division and $250,000 from Lotto First Division.

The Tauranga couple, who are not regular players, say they are still in shock and can’t believe their luck.

“We don’t buy tickets regularly, we just picked one up as we were near the dairy, I’d say it’s only the third ticket we’ve ever bought,” said the woman.

The couple have been working hard to set themselves up for the future, and say this win is going to change their life.

“We don’t own a house and we’ve been working very hard and studying to create the life we want.”

After the draw on Saturday night, the woman checked their ticket, initially thinking they had won Lotto First Division.

“I opened MyLotto and pulled up the winning numbers and began checking our ticket.

“We got all six and I was so excited, I said to my husband we’ve won Lotto First Division.”

Then she looked again and realised they had also matched the correct Powerball number.

“I was in such shock that I just froze, I didn’t know what to say or do!” said the woman.

With their win safely claimed, they are looking forward to celebrating and making plans for the future.

“We’re going to celebrate by throwing a big party for our families,” she said.

An Auckland family that shared the other half of the jackpot is also looking at buying a first home after the life changing win.

They checked their ticket while out for their usual breakfast on Sunday morning.

“After our breakfast we went to the mall to pick up a few groceries and I said to my partner that we should remember to check our ticket while we were there.”

“We keep them in the sun visor in the car,” he said.

The family went to the supermarket and checked their ticket under the ticket checker.

“My partner turned to me with a big grin and said, ‘we should take this to the counter!’ I still didn’t have a clue what was going on, but I think she did,” said the man.

The Lotto operator put their ticket through the machine and the winning music played.

“Then she put up the closed sign… and I still didn’t twig. I thought we’d maybe won $1,000 and she might have needed to get authorisation to pay that amount.

“The manager came and confirmed that we’d won $5.25 million, and some paperwork would be required. It was definitely not what I was expecting so I just said ‘woah, I need to go for a walk’.”

The family are excited for their future, and buying their first home.

Notes:

• The winning two winning $5.25 million Powerball tickets were sold at Pōkeno Superette in Pōkeno and Park Mini Mart in Tauranga for the draw on Saturday 9 November.
• Each prize is made up of $5 million from Powerball First Division and $250,000 from Lotto First Division.
• These winners are the eighteenth and nineteenth Powerball winners this year so far.
• The winners would like to remain anonymous and do not want to provide any further comment at this stage.

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