Hopes for a local millionaire as big $5.5m Lotto ticket sold at Taipa Foodmarket

The Taipā Foodmarket hadn't had a big winner in the six or seven years that it had been the community's only Lotto outlet, but that all changed on Wednesday night.

Someone who bought a Big Wednesday ticket there collected $5.5 million, made up of a half share of the Division I prize and powerball.

Srushti and Nirav Patel, who run the business, didn't know who had bought the ticket, but Mr Patel was "110 per cent sure" they would be local.

The school holidays were over, he said, and life at Doubtless Bay had returned to normal, suggesting that it was unlikely that the windfall would be claimed by someone from further afield.

He and Srushti were almost as excited as the winner was expected to be.

"We really excited, really happy," Mrs Patel said.

"People are coming into the shop and phoning us to talk about it."

She and her husband had had a celebration of their own when they heard the news, she added, Mr Patel saying the win would be good for the business and for the community.

Nimesh Shah, who owns the business, was equally delighted.

"The place is buzzing. Everyone is talking about it," he said.

He bought the business in 2010, but only gained the Lotto agency in 2012 or 2013, and this was the first big win, he added.

The other half of the Division I pool, worth $500,000, went to a ticket bought in Taupō.