Bubbly on hold as $13m Lotto unclaimed

The winner of the $13m Powerball is yet to come forward.

The lack of a claimant for a $13.2 Powerball prize for a ticket bought in Hastings is a surprise, says a Lotto spokeswoman.

While it is "very rare" for major windfalls to go unclaimed it's "not uncommon" for big winners to bide their time before heading for the payout window.

The prize, a half-share of one of New Zealand's biggest gambling pools, was struck on Saturday night by a ticket sold at the Hastings Pak'nSave Lotto agency, but had not been claimed last night.

But there was no cause for alarm, with a seven-figure claim just last week highlighting the situation, said communications manager Amanda Boock.

"A Wellington man won $1 million on a ticket that was over a month old," she said. "He'd tucked the ticket into the back of his wallet and didn't check it until he went to buy another ticket."

In November last year, an Auckland man won $1 million on a Lotto ticket that was seven months old. The ticket had been in a drawer with old receipts.

In another example, the ticket to an Auckland woman's $500,000 windfall drifted among the belongings in the bottom of a handbag for six weeks before she found out what it was worth and, in April last year, a Christchurch man won $666,667 with a First Division Lotto ticket that was five months old, also ignored among "odds and ends" in a drawer.

Currently, two $166,667 prizes won in August last year remain unclaimed, one bought in Auckland and the other in Invercargill.

Saturday's draw was the fourth time a Powerball ticket sold in Hawke's Bay had won more than $10 million, but Lotto says there's been plenty of other money to go around, with at least three prizes of more than $500,000 having come the region's way this year - all in Napier.

A ticket sold at Napier City Pak'nSave won a $500,000 Lotto First Division prize in the first draw of the year, in March another Napier couple won a $608,230 Strike Four prize, and in May a woman won a $500,000 Lotto first division prize.

Lotto encourages all players to write their name and address on the back of the ticket and check it immediately after the draw. Players have one year to claim prizes, and those that are not claimed are used for augmenting the prize pools for various draws and games and to fund special prizes.

"While we don't want to speculate where the winning ticket is," Ms Boock said, "we know that some Lotto players have weekly buying habits and often check their ticket at the same time as they buy another ticket for next week's draw.

"We're looking forward to meeting the latest big Hastings winner - we have the champagne on ice, ready and waiting."