Manukau's $9m mystery

Hadley Tonga and 10-month-old Siale at the Lotto shop that sold the $9 million winner. Picture / Kenny Rodger

Generosity was in the air even if winners were thin on the ground yesterday at the Manukau City Lotto outlet which sold Saturday's $9 million winning ticket.

Somethea Sok turned up with his 5-year-old daughter, Nerissa, to check his $30 ticket, heart pumping at the sight of the "Winner Sold Here" poster.

But it was back to normal in the few seconds it took the Lotto machine to swallow, read and return his ticket. Not even a $28 division six prize.

However, the warehouse operator, who came to New Zealand from Cambodia seven years ago, had a big smile and wished the winner "Good luck."

The sentiment was the same from Dennis and Joanna Brizell, of Manurewa, who either buy their Lotto tickets at the Manukau City Foodtown outlet or nearby Pak'nSave, won $75 once and are still "waiting for the big one".

"Good luck to them," said Mr Brizell of the mystery winner. "If they are going to throw it away tomorrow, tell me."

So far, there is no sign of the lucky punter who bought the ticket that won the Powerball first division of $8,838,713 and $518,373 from Lotto first division. That is a total of $9,357,086, the seventh-biggest jackpot in Lotto history.

It was the third-biggest Powerball jackpot this year. In September, an Aucklander won $15 million and in June, someone from Napier won $12 million.

To make Saturday's draw sweeter, another ticket sold at Pak'nSave in Rotorua shared the Lotto first division and was worth $518,373; and a woman from Mosgiel, near Dunedin, Michelle Blampied, became only the second person to win $1 million on the Winning Wheel.

Lotteries Commission spokeswoman Helen Morgan-Banda said it was the first time the Powerball and Winning Wheel had been won on the same night.

The owners of the Manukau City Lotto outlet, Jeff and Marilyn Corfield, have no idea who bought the ticket but hope it was one of their hundreds of regulars, many of them shop workers and office staff at the large South Auckland mall.

In the five months they have owned the business, the Corfields have sold two second-division tickets and a $458,000 Striketicket.

Mr Corfield said theirs was one of the largest Lotto outlets in the North Island but he would like to think the run of good luck was more a case of good customers and a fantastic team of five staff.