Masterton's Kuripuni NZ Post and Lotto shop opens for people to check whether they have winning $12.5 million Powerball ticket

Masterton's lucky Lotto shop, Kuripuni NZ Post and Lotto, has opened today to allow locals to check their tickets. Photo / File

It may be small, but Kuripuni NZ Post and Lotto does its winning big.

The Masterton Lotto shop last night sold the winning $12.5 million Powerball ticket, one of five big ones owner Margaret Taute has sold in the past 15 years.

The store sold one of the largest-winning tickets in history - $36.9 million - which was won by a local family in 2009, one of three to be sold within a month that year.

Taute said it was one of three sold within a few months of each other.

The latest ticket is the largest windfall since the lucky spell.

"We've been very lucky, yes we have, we've done five big prizes in our time here so that's been really awesome for us."

Those five include an $800,000 Strike, $5.5m and then $500,000, $36m and then last night's $12.5 million Powerball ticket.

"It's exciting, but I tell you what's more exciting is when people come in thinking they've still won. You know what I mean, they come into check to see if they're the winner and that's huge. We don't normally open on a Sunday but we've already had people come in."

Taute said most locals knew she wasn't open on a Sunday.

"It will be tomorrow. Everybody will waltz in. Had this been a Monday the shop would have been buzzing. We're not normally open so they're not likely to come down."

She had been in the store since 10am and planned to stay until 2pm if there was enough custom.

"We've had a few passersby but we didn't expect a lot. It was more to be organised for tomorrow ... we know from the $36m the buzz it caused."

There was little "buzz'' evident today.

"There's a few cafes open here but we're just a little village, it's not a big traffic area for shopping."

When asked if it was common for people to check their ticket where they had bought it, Taute said some did.

"The person who won $5.5m comes in every week. They're local guys, we're not a tourist destination. Our biggest buzz is that people are so good to us. We have a loyal base and they keep coming back and it's the only reason that we're still here."

Taute said she loved working with people and that was the main reason she kept soldiering on.

"I'm very fortunate, I love people and that's one of things why I wouldn't really stop work quickly.

"I think the fact that that's what Lotto is, it's our hope isn't it and if somebody wins in your town it could be you until you've had your ticket checked, or you've checked it, either way it doesn't matter.

"Until somebody checks their ticket it could be them."