$15.2 Million Record Powerball Prize Claimed

Media Release
13 September 2005
For Immediate Release

$15.2 MILLION RECORD POWERBALL PRIZE HAS BEEN CLAIMED

The record $15.2 million Lotto Powerball jackpot prize won on Saturday night has been claimed today by an Auckland person, New Zealand Lotteries Commission (NZ Lotteries) Chief Executive Trevor Hall announced today.

"I came home and checked Teletext and saw that there was a single winner, and thought ‘that’s a lot of money for one winning ticket’. I hoped the ticket was owned by a number of people," the winner said today.

"I then went to bed oblivious to my windfall. I slept well and in the morning I was stunned when I checked the numbers that I had written down the night before.

“I then went to the NZ Lotteries website and got a second confirmation of the win," the winner said.

The $15,233,068 prize is the biggest ever paid out by NZ Lotteries on a single ticket. The prize is made up of $14,500,000 from Powerball Division One and $733,068 from being a Division One Lotto winner. The ticket was bought from Amigo’s Paper Power & Lotto in Mt Roskill. This is the first time a prize of more than $10 million has been claimed on a ticket sold in Auckland. The previous biggest prize paid to a ticket bought in Auckland was $6.8 million won by a ticket bought at Mairangi Bay Dairy & Lotto in January 2002.

“The winner wishes to remain anonymous, but intends to do some good with the winnings,” says Mr Hall.

Until now, the largest Powerball prize ever won by an individual ticket was $14,763,254, won in April last year from a ticket bought in Kawerau. Other big wins have included $12,053,517 won in June this year from a ticket bought in Napier, $11,482,824 won with a ticket bought in Hokitika in November 2002, and $9,970,845 won in the 2004 Christmas Day draw with a ticket bought in Wellington, Mr Hall says.

“Its amazing how the really big prizes have been spread throughout New Zealand,” says Mr Hall.

ENDS

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