Lotto results: Whakatāne store owner says they have ‘lucky touch’ after selling $8.3 million ticket

The owners of a Whakatāne store think they might have the “lucky touch” after selling the winning $8.3 million ticket this weekend.

Sophie Fang from Whakatāne’s Halfway Store said she started “screaming” when she realised they sold the winning ticket. She hoped the lucky punter was a local.

One lucky Lotto player won $8.3m in Saturday’s draw, made up of Powerball’s $8m plus a one-third share of Division One’s million dollars.

It’s not the store’s first big win, with the family store selling the winning $12.25m ticket last June - the store’s biggest winning ticket.

Fang was at home when she got the news from a staff member, to which she excitedly responded: “Really? Oh my goodness.”

She searched online and started “screaming” when she saw it was true.

“It’s unbelievable.”

The winning Lotto ticket was sold at Halfway Store in Whakatāne. Photo / Google Maps

Fang said it felt like “a dream” but she woke up and it was real.

She said their store, owned for nearly 12 years, was “lucky” as it had sold three First Division winners and last year’s $12m prize, the Strike First Division last month, and now this.

Fang said she felt they became lucky in the last few years, and while she wasn’t sure where it came from. She joked it was their “lucky touch” when passing on the tickets to punters.

She said that many people were excitedly checking their tickets today.

While the winner still hadn’t been in yet, Fang hoped they were local and that they would be able to congratulate them.

She thought they might not come into the store to claim it out of fear of being recognised.

Fang said she’d celebrate on behalf of the winner with champagne and chocolates.

The first Powerball multi-millionaire of 2023 was an Aucklander who netted $23.5m in January, while one player in Lower Hutt won more than $24.2m in October.

Another winner in Paraparaumu claimed a $37m jackpot in August, and spoke to the Herald after her win, saying she had only gone to the supermarket to buy a chocolate bar and picked up her lucky Lotto ticket on a whim.