Lotto Powerball's $50 million draw: $5 million Invercargill winner kept ticket in car glovebox

The winner only found out she'd won when she went into the store to buy another ticket for Wednesday's draw. Photo / File

One of the winners of Saturday's mammoth Lotto draw kept their $5 million winning ticket in the glovebox of their car.

An Invercargill couple are over the moon after finding out their ticket scooped a 10th of the huge $50 million Powerball prize.

The couple, who wish to remain anonymous, had no idea they were sitting on the winning ticket until they visited Collingwood Foodcentre on Wednesday to buy a ticket for that night's Lotto draw.

"I asked the lady working behind the counter to check my ticket from Saturday night. Next minute she stopped and looked at me, and then back at the ticket, and then back at me again – I wondered what was going on," the woman said.

"Then I looked at the screen and saw that we had won $5,023,999 and I just burst out bawling."

The woman and her husband went out the back of the shop to sit down and absorb the life-changing news.

"You always dream that you're going to win, but you never think you will, so this has come as a big surprise."

The retired couple are Invercargill locals and regular Lotto players. The winning ticket was a $12 Power Dip.

Asked where they kept their winning ticket, the woman replied: "I kept it in the glovebox of my car - and for some uncanny reason I locked the car the night before we found out we'd won. I don't usually worry about it, but something told me that I should."

Once the couple returned home from claiming their prize, they decided to break normal routine to celebrate.

"We had a beer before lunchtime ... We then set about telling our family, who didn't all believe us at first."

The couple invited extended family around for a celebratory dinner that night, and opened some champagne to toast their win.

They are planning to take some time to let the reality of the big win sink in before deciding how they will spend the money. They expect to carry out some house renovations and plan for their future.

The winning ticket was sold at Collingwood Foodcentre for the $50 million Must Be Won draw on August 15.