Lotto: Tauranga woman $1 million richer after First Division win

A Tauranga woman celebrated her Lotto win with a glass of bubbles. Photo / 123rf

“I have a thousand things running through my mind.”

A Tauranga woman is feeling every emotion after scoring herself $1 million with Lotto First Division on Saturday, a statement from Lotto NZ said.

The woman, who wished to remain anonymous, decided to treat herself to a Triple Dip for the Mother’s Day promotion with hopes of winning one of the 75 extra prizes of $10,000 on offer.

“Sometimes I play my own numbers, sometimes a Triple Dip, but this time I wanted to be in with a chance to win one of the Mother’s Day prizes — I never thought I’d actually win a million,” she said in the statement.

The woman took a screenshot of her ticket so she could watch the live draw on TV and check her ticket at the same time.

“I’m normally in bed by the time you can check your tickets on MyLotto, so I always take a screenshot and check it while watching the live draw.”

She said she quickly realised she had won Lotto First Division, but not wanting to get ahead of herself, assumed it had been shared by multiple winners.

“I told myself that a few people had won and that I’d maybe won $300k … which would still obviously have been amazing.”

“I waited up past my usual bedtime to check how much I had won [on MyLotto].”

“When I saw I was the only winner, I went into shock. A million dollars is just incredible … it’s life-changing for me,” she said.

She had been experiencing a mixed bag of emotions since her win.

“One minute it feels quite overwhelming, and I have a thousand things running through my mind, and the next I feel an immense sense of relief and am really excited for my future.”

The woman celebrated with a glass of bubbles as she thought about what she might do with her winnings.

“I want to ensure I am set up for the future, and once that is sorted, I hope to be able to help some of the people closest to me.”

Tonight’s Powerball jackpot is $26m and if won by a single person, will be the largest Powerball prize won since August.