Lotto: $17.25 million claimed by lucky Canterbury player

New Zealand’s newest multimillionaire has just claimed their $17.25 million Powerball prize, Lotto NZ has confirmed.

The prize was won from a ticket sold on MyLotto to a player from Canterbury and has now been claimed after the winner claimed online.

Lotto NZ’s Head of Corporate Communications, Lucy Fullarton, said it was excited for the winner and pleased to have the prize safely claimed.

“We don’t have any further details to give at this early stage, but we will have more to share over the next couple of days,” Fullarton said.

The winning numbers were drawn on Saturday 27 January, and is the first Powerball win of 2024.

The numbers were: 8, 20, 25, 32, 11 and 13. The Bonus Ball was 7, and the Power Ball was 1.

Three other lucky Lotto players are also celebrating after each winning $250,000 with First Division.

It comes after a Christchurch family stayed up until the early hours of the morning planning their future, after winning $1 million in Lotto First Division earlier this month.

The lucky family, who are occasional players, thought the win was too good to be true when they checked their ticket on Wednesday, January 10.

In the middle of 2023, a Christchurch couple who won one of the largest Lotto draws in recent history kept their ticket hidden in the sock drawer for days while they worked out what they would do with their winnings.

A mouthwatering $33.5m prize was won at Freshchoice Merivale, Christchurch in 2023. Photo / George Heard

The couple, who wished to remain anonymous, said they were overwhelmed by the magnitude of the win and needed time to process it before coming forward.

The mouthwatering $33.5m win was eventually claimed after the numbers were announced last June.

Other mammoth wins from throughout the past 12 months include $37.1m won in Paraparaumu, $24.25m struck in Lower Hutt and $23.5m won in Auckland.