Lotto Powerball winners: Invercargill SuperValue owner thrilled to have sold $15m ticket

The supermarket owner who sold one of last night’s $15 million Lotto Powerball ticket tells the Herald he is “so thrilled” and is planning a small celebration with his staff.

Last night’s $30m Powerball draw was won by two tickets, one bought by a MyLotto player in Wellington and the other from Plaza SuperValue in Invercargill, each taking home a $15m share of the top prize.

Each player also won $83,000 from Lotto First Division, along with 10 others.

The owner of Plaza SuperValue spoke to the Herald just before opening his store this morning, and recounted the phone call he got while he was sleeping last night.

The Plaza SuperValue in Invercargill sold the winning $15 million Lotto Powerball ticket on Saturday, June 21, 2025. Photo / Google

“I got a call from my Lotto area manager and he says, ‘you guys sold the First Division’, and I didn’t understand at first,” said owner Jigs Buha.

“He said, ‘Yes, you sold the First Division’ - then it’s just like, you know, I don’t believe it. Then I read the news all over the place.

“As a retailer, you always want to hear that you sold the First Division, so I’m so thrilled. It’s really good, exciting news,” Buha said.

He said he had only recently taken over ownership of Plaza SuperValue, so “I don’t know what’s happening”, but he was keen to celebrate with his staff and put up some decorations.

Last night’s winning numbers were: 11, 35, 3, 20, 19 and 27. The bonus ball was 31 and Powerball was 7. It was the first time the jackpot hit $30m since October last year.

Lotto NZ expected up to 1.2m ticket sales for last night’s mega-draw. Long queues were reported at ticket outlets around the country earlier in the day.

The two new multi-millionaires this morning are the tenth and eleventh newly minted rich listers of the year, and their wins come just over a month after a Porirua woman won $17.2m.

The last family to take home $30m was from Auckland’s North Shore. The purchaser of the winning Powerball ticket brought some of his children with him to Lotto HQ as he claimed the seventh-equal largest prize in Lotto NZ history.

“I still can’t believe this is actually real,” one of the man’s daughters said.

“It feels like someone’s going to pop their head in at any moment and tell us it’s all a big joke.”

Raphael Franks is an Auckland-based reporter who covers business, breaking news and local stories from Tāmaki Makaurau. He joined the Herald as a Te Rito cadet in 2022.

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