As well as not having a heart attack, the couple said their “best piece of advice” to any future winner is to remember to eat and sleep in the first two weeks.
“It’s the little things like that that are easy to forget in the early days after a big win.”
Another pair, who split a $50m jackpot in 2020, thought it was important to find the right people to tell.
”Keep your circle small, but definitely share the news with someone. You will need the support of at least one other person to get you through those first weeks.
”For me, that was so important, it gave me people to talk to and bounce ideas off while I got my head around the whole thing.”
Seeking trusted advice from close family and friends as well as financial advisers and lawyers was the key advice offered by a Hawke’s Bay winner.
If tonight’s jackpot is not won, the prize pool will increase to a $50m must-be-won draw.
Should that happen it would be the second time Powerball has reached that stage in as many months – something Lotto NZ estimates is a one-in-100-year event, and yet it’s only one draw away.
With such a big prize up for grabs, Lotto NZ is expecting high demand for Saturday night’s draw and is encouraging customers to get in early.
”Stores will be busy throughout the day, and we know lots of people will be jumping online to grab their ticket in the hour before sales close at 7.30pm,” Lotto NZ’s head of corporate communications Lucy Fullarton said.
“We really want to encourage our customers to buy their ticket early and avoid the rush, both instore and online.”
Since Lotto began in 1987, more than 280 people have won Powerball.
Each of these draws has generated profits that go back into supporting community organisations and charities across the country, NZ Lotto chief executive Jason Delamore said.
”Lotto NZ exists to generate essential funding for Kiwi communities – t’s the driving purpose of our organisation – with more than $6 billion returned to communities since Lotto began,” he said.
2024′s biggest win so far
The biggest total prize of 2024 was struck on June 8, when a $50m must-be-won draw was shared between seven winning ticketholders who each took home $7.18m.
While two of those winners had claimed their share of the first prize by the next day, it took seven weeks for the final winner to come forward and collect their portion of the winnings.
One of the children of a winning couple, who wished to remain anonymous, said the family had a meeting to share the happy news.
“They’ve slowly been doing bits on the house, and now they can afford to finish the renovations,” the child said about the winning parents.
“We really want them to do something for themselves, though. They’ve been talking about a special overseas trip for a long time and now they can do that. It will be amazing for them,” said another of the children.
The next largest prize of the year was won on April 13, with a player in Wellington pocketing $30.16m.
Other Powerball jackpots won since then include $4.5m, won by a MyLotto player in Waikato on June 12 and $5.5m won on June 19 by a physical ticket bought in Waitara.
What to do if you win
Ticket holders can see immediately if they have won if they purchased a ticket through MyLotto. Prizes of $1000 or less are automatically credited to the account.
For prizes of more than $1000, winners have to fill in an online prize form.
Winners with a physical ticket must still visit a Lotto retailer to claim their prize.
For the Powerball jackpot to be claimed, a ticket holder must get all six Lotto numbers correct as well as the added Powerball number.
If the jackpot is not claimed tonight, it will roll over each draw until it is won.
The longest Powerball jackpot run in Lotto NZ history before it was struck was 24 consecutive draws.
If more than one person wins Powerball, the jackpot is shared equally between the winning tickets.
Top 5 Lotto wins of all time:
- $44.06 million – Auckland, 2016
- $42.02 million – Waikato, 2021
- $37.12 million – Wellington, 2023
- $33.05 million – Christchurch, 2023
- $33.01 million – Auckland, 2013
The 13 Powerball multimillionaires crowned in 2024:
- January 27: $17.25 million - My Lotto, Canterbury
- February 10: $8.3 million - MyLotto, Hawke’s Bay
- March 2: $12.3 million - MyLotto, Otago
- April 13: $30.16 million - MyLotto, Wellington
- June 8: $7.18 million - Pak’nSave Wairau Rd, Auckland
- June 8: $7.18 million - Woolworths Metro, Auckland
- June 8: $7.18 million - Royal Oak Mall Lotto, Auckland
- June 8: $7.18 million - MyLotto, Auckland
- June 8: $7.18 million - MyLotto, Auckland
- June 8: $7.18 million - Shop Rite Dairy, Hamilton
- June 8: $7.18 million - New World Hastings, Hastings
- June 12: $4.5 million - MyLotto, Waikato
- June 19: $5.5 million - Impulse Snacks & Lotto, Taranaki
