Hastings $11 million winner has finally claimed their prize

Jenny Patchell hopes store manager Carole Ormerod at Unichem Stortford Lodge has sold her the winning ticket

The lucky $11 million Hastings Powerball winner has handed in their winning ticket after sitting on it for nearly a week.

Lotto told Hawke's Bay Today on Tuesday the winner had come forward.

The new multi-millionaire did not wish to be identified or make any comment on the win.

Last Wednesday's $11m Powerball First Division prize was the largest prize ever won at Unichem Stortford Lodge.

The location where ticket was claimed cannot be identified for privacy reasons, but it was not at Stortford Lodge.

Store manager Carole Ormerod said she had seen a lot more people coming to the store buying tickets than normal.

"I have certainly seen more people than normal, but having talked to some of the others who have worked here a while they said that for a few weeks after their last win they saw a lot more people coming through the doors to get tickets," Ormerod said.

Unichem Stortford Lodge's last big win was in 2016, when a lucky Hawke's Bay man won $8.1m on a Lotto ticket he received as a birthday present.

The store is now seen as the luckiest in the country having sold 47 First Division winning tickets totalling $39m.

Although lightning rarely strikes the same spot twice, many are hoping that they will be the exception.

Tauranga local Jenny Patchell said she had been in Hastings for work and only by sheer coincidence came by the store.

"I came to get some things from the shop and actually didn't know this was the store that had sold the big prize ticket until I talked to the lady at the counter, so I thought I would test my luck," Patchell said.

Patchell is a regular Lotto player and says she likes to buy tickets all over the country.

"I do play most weeks and having to travel for work a lot I always seem to buy tickets from different places and not just from the one store," Patchell said.

"I don't know why I just think it's a way to get a better shot by buying tickets from different places."

But she said having a store like this in Hastings having such a good reputation helps put the city the map.

"It's just such a great thing for a little store like this to have, being able to call yourself the luckiest store in New Zealand is such a cool thing."