A retired couple from Tauranga celebrated a very special Valentine's Day after winning $4.5 million with Powerball First Division on Saturday.
The regular Lotto players have been playing for more than 25 years and have made a habit of sitting down and watching the live Lotto draw each week - and on Valentine's Day all of their lucky numbers came up.
"My wife has the important job of checking off the numbers and this week she turned to me and said 'we have all six numbers - and the Powerball.' I couldn't believe it," said the winner.
After checking their ticket a couple of times and calling their daughter to double check the numbers too, the couple realised they really did have a big winner in their hands.
"We don't have the internet, so we sat in front of the TV waiting for the official results to come on later in the evening. There was a bit of suspense, I tell you.
"Then the results popped up on TV and we saw just how much we'd won - $4.5 million! We were thrilled to have won at all, so finding out it was such a large prize was just the icing on the cake," the winner said.
After letting the reality of their good fortune sink in, the winners headed to bed to get some rest - but not before tucking their winning ticket away for safe keeping.
"My wife put the ticket in her handbag and hid the bag in the wardrobe in our bedroom. As we climbed into bed she turned to me and said 'If anyone tries to steal it tonight, I'll kill them.'
"I'd have felt really sorry for anyone silly enough to try and take the ticket off her," the winner laughed.
Luckily no thieves came calling and after a restless night the lucky couple claimed their prize the next morning at their local Lotto store.
"The girls at the Lotto store were so excited for us - there were lots of hugs going around. That was when I felt the most emotional about the whole thing.
"Then they took us aside so we could get everything sorted and I couldn't help but wonder what the other people in the store would think was going on - either that we'd won something big or that we'd been caught shoplifting," joked the winner.
Once they'd handed the winning ticket over and filled in the paperwork, the winners headed back home and celebrated their win in true Kiwi style.
"I wanted to have a cold beer to celebrate after checking the ticket on Saturday, but it was a bit late so we had one after we handed our ticket in the next day instead. A beer has never tasted better!"
The $4.5 million prize is now safely in the winners' bank account and the couple are beginning to think about what they're going to do with their newfound fortune.
"We've always been very careful with money, so it's going to be a real treat just being able to say 'I'll take it' when we see something we like in a shop - I think shopping will be a lot more fun now.
"But other than a few little treats here and there we don't have any big plans just yet - we're just letting the win sink in and take things as they come."
The winning ticket was sold at Greerton Lotto in Tauranga.
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