Invercargill's $15m winner: 'It still feels so unbelievable'
The Invercargill woman who won $15m from Powerball on Saturday night has been playing her own numbers for years.
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The first call an Invercargill woman, who is now $15m richer, made after her big Powerball win was to her daughter.
She asked how she would feel about her mortgage being paid off.
The unnamed Invercargill woman, and a man from the bottom of the North Island, were Lotto NZ’s latest Powerball multi-millionaires on Saturday night.
The winners became the 10th and 11th multi-millionaires this year after sharing Saturday’s mammoth $30 million jackpot, taking home $15,083,333 each.
They respectively described their wins as ‘unbelievable’ and ‘surreal.’
The Invercargill woman has been playing her own numbers for years.
She picked up her ticket at Plaza Supervalue and sat down on Saturday night to watch the draw as she usually does.
“I always watch the draw on Saturday night and write down the numbers to check my ticket against,” she said.
“When I saw I had all six numbers and the Powerball, my first thought was ‘I really hope someone else has won too,’ – that was before I saw the official results that it was two of us!”
The woman shared the news with her children straight away.
“I called my daughter and said, ‘how would you feel if I told you I was going to pay your mortgage?’
“My son didn’t believe me at first, he had to check the ticket himself,” she laughed.
“They were both thrilled for me.”
“I didn’t sleep at all that night, I had so much going through my mind – it still feels so unbelievable,” she said.
The next day, she went back to Plaza Supervalue to claim her prize.
“It was such a strange feeling hearing people talking about the win and who might have won it, knowing it was me and that no one knew,” she said.
The woman has spent the last few days thinking about what she would like to do with the win.
“This money means I can do so much to help my children and grandchildren – they will be financially secure, and that’s a wonderful feeling.”
The woman is also planning to treat herself to a long-overdue overseas trip.
“I’ve been wanting to go for a long time, and now I can – my family said I have to make sure I fly first-class though,” she laughed.
The second to claim their life-changing win was a man from Wellington, who bought his ticket on MyLotto.
“I was checking my emails when I saw one from Lotto NZ – I thought I must have won a small prize,” he said.
Logging in to his MyLotto account, the man watched the virtual draw, and a full line of numbers circled towards the bottom of his ticket.
“I couldn’t see the top of the ticket on the screen, so it wasn’t until I scrolled up that I saw how much I had won – I was in shock!
“I think I checked my ticket a million times that day just to be sure – and every time felt just as surreal.”
Later that day he gathered his family to share his news, and they celebrated with a glass of champagne.
The man plans to use the money to buy a house, help his family, and invest for his future.
Both winners would like to remain anonymous and do not wish to provide any further comment at this stage.
Saturday’s jackpot was the largest Powerball jackpot since October 2024.
It is the second time the Powerball jackpot has been split by two people this year. The first was a $10 million jackpot won by two players from Christchurch and Dunedin in March, who each took home $5.5 million.