Lotto Powerball: Auckland couple win ‘the big one’, pocket $6.3m

An Auckland couple who won Saturday’s $6.3m Lotto Powerball prize said they baulked at the price of business class upgrades while discussing what to do with their newfound wealth.

On Sunday morning, as the country had stopped to watch the All Blacks take on South Africa in the Rugby World Cup final, the couple learnt that they were the lucky winners.

“I was about to text my wife, who was out at the time, when I saw an email notification from Lotto NZ,” the man explained.

“It said I was a Major Prize Winner, so I checked my ticket on MyLotto... I scrolled all the way down to the bottom of my ticket before I saw the winning line, and even then, I didn’t know how much I’d won. I scrolled back up to see ‘$6,333,333′, and that’s when it hit me - I’d won the big one!”

Excitement burst out of the man when his wife arrived home and he was finally able to tell her the news.

“I couldn’t believe it! It was a surreal feeling - and not something I ever would have expected to happen,” the woman said.

The couple have since been discussing what to do with the money, stating that they will remain sensible.

“We’re incredibly grateful. It’s a wonderful feeling not having to worry about the future. We’re looking forward to being able to travel and buy our own place,” she said.

“We baulked when we saw the price of business class upgrades!”

The couple told all their friends and family and then they celebrated with a bottle of champagne that evening and stayed up well into the night, thinking about everything they could do.

“Whenever I was on the cusp of sleep, he’d nudge me and say, ‘What if we did this?’” the woman said.