"We pick up tickets every now and again. I always buy a ticket when we go away somewhere, just in case that's the lucky spot that week. We definitely got lucky this time."
The New Zealand couple collected their life-changing prize yesterday.
"The first thing we want to splash out on is an overseas holiday. We don't know where just yet, but somewhere warm would be nice. We'll also use some of the prize to pay off our mortgage and help the family. Other than that, we're not too sure - there are a lot of possibilities ahead of us now, it's life changing."
The winner said he popped into the dairy next to the Lotto shop in Tauranga early on Sunday morning and the owner said there had been a big winner sold in the area.
"I figured he must be talking about a different Lotto shop, so I never clicked that I should check my ticket," he said.
It was not until late on Wednesday night that the winner finally got around the checking that yellow piece of paper.
"I was on the computer and thought I may as well check my ticket while I was there, so I grabbed it out of my wallet and started circling the numbers," the winner said.
"The next thing I heard was him shouting, 'oh no, oh no, oh no' from the other room," said the winner's wife.
"I thought he must have done something to the computer so I shouted back 'What've you done now?' That's when he called me through and asked me to check the ticket, because he thought we'd won something big."
After checking the ticket against the numbers on MyLotto several times, the winners decided to do one final check - scan it using the Lotto NZ app.
"When 'major prize winner' flashed up on the screen we just about lost it - we were so excited, absolutely buzzing. We didn't get much sleep that night, that's for sure."
In just nine months, 10 Kiwis have scooped the Powerball jackpot, becoming millionaires several times over. That makes 2015 the luckiest year for Powerball players in the history of the game.
Major prizes won in Tauranga in 2015
February 14: Greerton Lotto sells a $4.5 million Powerball ticket to a retired couple who celebrate their win with a cold beer.
March 21: Pak'nSave Papamoa sells a $2 million Lotto ticket to a Papamoa man who knew he had won a major prize but put the ticket back in his pocket
and carried on with his day.
September 19: Greerton Lotto sells a $5 million Powerball ticket, currently unclaimed.
Top 10 luckiest Tauranga Lotto stores
1. Bayfair Lotto, 21 wins
2. Greerton Lotto, 20
3. Tauranga City Lotto, 15
4. Cherrywood Lotto and Book Shop, 14
5= Mags, Cards and Lotto, 11
5= Paper Plus Mount Maunganui, 11
6. Bethlehem Four Square and Lotto, 9
7. Pak'n Save Papamoa, 8
8= AJ's Lotto, 6
8= Mount Paper Power, 6
9. Brookfield Four Square and Lotto, 5
10. My Pharmacy Papamoa Plaza, 4
