Lotto's $6.5 million winner comes forward

The winning ticket was sold at Gisborne's Grant Bros' store. Photo / File

The search for the winner of a $6.5 million Lotto prize left unclaimed for almost two weeks is over.

The winning ticket for the Powerball First Division prize drawn on March 11 was sold by Gisborne's Grant Bros, and a Lotto spokeswoman told the Herald the winners have now come forward.

The husband and wife from Gisborne who wish to remain anonymous, said they took "a bit of time to clear [their] heads" before coming forward, and tucked the ticket away.

"Working out where to put the ticket was a bit harder than I thought," he said.

"I was going to put it back in the glove box, but would have kicked myself if the car got stolen. In the end we put it in a folder along with all our bills because we figured that even if the house got robbed, no one would steal that.

"The best moment for me was telling my wife. I'll never forget the look on her face."

The couple said they plan to continue working, and would like to use the $6.5 million to help people in their community.

"That's where our reward will be. There's nothing we really want to splash out on, helping family is our biggest thing."

​The $6.5 million Powerball First Division prize was the 13th First Division winning ticket Grant Bros had sold over the years - but its first Powerball win.

Store owner Renee Grant said the store was bustling as customers came in to check their tickets.

"It's really exciting for us. We really want the person to come forward and claim their prize as we know it's going to be absolutely life-changing," she said.

"Everyone is looking high and low for the ticket. Each day the ticket goes unclaimed, more and more people are coming through the door to see if they could be the winner.

"People are also coming in just to buy their tickets from us - I think the word has got out that we are the lucky store in town."

Lotto NZ's general manager of corporate communications Emilia Mazur said it was unusual for a prize of that size to go unclaimed for such a long period, but not unheard of.

In 2014, Hamilton Lotto players searched for a Powerball ticket worth $16 million for 10 days before the winner thought to check their ticket and in 2013, a $22 million prize remained unclaimed in Christchurch for more than three weeks before the winner came forward. He was in no hurry to check his ticket because he believed the prize had already been claimed.