Do you know anything about the winner?
Email the Herald Newsdesk
NZ Lotteries staff are in Masterton for a meeting with last night's $36 million-plus Big Wednesday winner, helping them cope with the shock of the windfall.
The ticket-holder is New Zealand's richest lottery winner, scooping the entire $36.1 million Big Wednesday prize pool. The winner also took the second division prize of $696,795.
NZ Lotteries spokesperson Karen Jones told NZPA she had this morning been in contact with the winner - who first contacted NZ Lotteries last night via a special 0800 number set up for the draw.
The winners were very excited but very aware of the public interest in their big win, she said.
They were in shock and had a lot of big decisions to make, including who to tell, and how to tell them, she said.
"They're obviously coming to grips with their win."
Two lotteries staff had been sent to Masterton, Ms Jones said.
When asked if that meant the winner was a local, she said the staff would provide support to the store which sold the winning ticket, Kuripuni Take Note Lotto and Post Shop.
Masterton Mayor Garry Daniell said it was "just wonderful" that the money had gone to someone in his town - although the commission had not confirmed last night that the winner is a Masterton resident.
Mr Daniell hoped the winner would invest the money back into his community.
Kuripuni Lotto and Post Shop owner Maureen Taute does not expect the big winner to be able to stay anonymous.
"Being a small town, somebody will know who has won, for sure," she said. "It will be out within 24 hours."
Her shop has had mixed fortunes. Within the past two months, it has sold other lottery tickets that won $5.5 million and $500,000.
But on Monday, it was held up by a man wearing a hoodie and bandanna.
Last night's prize pool was $34,453,401 in cash, two luxury cars - an Audi R8 and a Porsche Cayenne - $250,000 credit on an American Express Platinum Card, $250,000 cash towards luxury travel, a Four Winns V258 boat and $750,000 towards a bach.
The winner is unlikely to voluntarily make their newfound wealth public - the commission says only one in 10 big winners tells anyone beyond their family about their fortune.
Masterton, Wairarapa's largest town, had a population of 22,626 in the 2006 Census.
Its median income was $21,000, against the national median last year of $35,000.
The previous largest Big Wednesday first division prize was a $12.8 million package drawn in February 2006, and the largest previous single lottery prize was $19 million in Powerball in April last year.
The Lotteries Commission said 4.78 million Big Wednesday tickets were sold for last night's draw, compared to 500,000 in an average week. It generated $28 million in sales.
