Four Lotto players win $250,000 in First Division

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Four Lotto players won $250,000 in First Division tonight.

The winning tickets were sold at Westside Superette in Auckland, New World Kapiti in Paraparaumu, Fresh Choice Nelson City in Nelson and Fresh Choice Green Island in Dunedin.

A $116,635 Strike Four ticket was also sold at Bus Stop Dairy in Christchurch.

There was just $4 million up for grabs in Powerball tonight after a young couple from Auckland's Hibiscus Coast won the must-go $44 million on Wednesday. It wasn't struck and so rolled over to $5 million on Wednesday.

The winning Hibiscus Coast couple had just about given up on being able to buy their first home when one of them discovered they'd won during a break at work.

"I was at work this morning on smoko break and decided to check our ticket," said one of the winners.

"I saw that I had three numbers in a row, so I quickly checked that I had the Powerball number and then went back and checked the rest of the numbers," he said.

"As soon as I saw I had all the numbers on one line I just yelled 'holy ****!' - my boss thought I'd chopped my arm off with a saw."

The couple were regular Lotto players who sometimes played their own numbers and sometimes played with a Dip ticket, and the win couldn't have come at a better time for the couple, who have a young family.

"We've been busting our guts trying to buy our first home," the husband said.

"We just went to the mortgage broker earlier this week to see what they could do to help. But they just couldn't make anything work for us...

"We were absolutely gutted and I just said 'maybe that ship has sailed'."

The couple wanted to be smart about how they managed the money.

"All we know at the moment is that we're going to give the kids a really great Christmas this year."

They will continue working and want to remain anonymous.