A Papamoa woman was trying to replace a broken washing machine when her husband called and told her not to bother; they had just won half a million dollars in Lotto.

The couple, who don't want to be identified, said they play Lotto every draw and love checking to see whether their lucky numbers have popped up. Usually they check their tickets together every Sunday morning.

However, when the washing machine broke, the wife went searching for a replacement while the husband checked their ticket, discovering their $500,000 windfall. He called his wife to tell her he had it 'sorted'.

''I rushed home thinking something might be wrong, but was pleasantly surprised when he told me we had won $500,000. I couldn't believe it!'' the wife said.

''The first thing I said was 'Are you kidding?' I was in shock, it just didn't seem real. We truly can't believe our luck, we're both just so excited!''

The winning first division ticket for Wednesday night's draw was sold at Papamoa Pak'nSave after another lucky punter from Whangarei took away $5.5m in Powerball first division.

The couple plan to shout their adult children, who are currently overseas, a trip home this Christmas ''to enjoy a Kiwi summer as a family''.

''It's an amazing feeling knowing we will all be back together in just a few short weeks.''

The couple said they always tried to buy their tickets from Pak'n Save Papamoa after having a few little wins from there before.

"They're definitely our lucky store now!

"I never imagined that would mean that we'd soon be depositing half-a-million dollars into our account," the woman said.

Papamoa Pak'n Save Lotto supervisor Gloria Goepel said the win was exciting following the last big win of $1 million from a ticket sold on September 21.

She said the store had been abuzz with punters checking their tickets after news of last week's win broke.

On Saturday night, a person from the Bay of Plenty won $91,446 after playing MyLotto. The player won Lotto Second Division ($8,844) 10 times and Powerball 2nd Division once ($3,006), bringing the total winnings to $91,446.

This happens when a player plays the same six Lotto numbers on 10 lines, each with a different Powerball number.

Other big wins in Tauranga this year have included:

February: A Tauranga family won $7.1m with a Powerball ticket bought from AJ's Lotto

March: A Bay of Plenty local won $1m in Lotto first division

September: A Gate Pa man won $1m with a first division ticket from Gate Pa Superette

September: A Tauranga couple won $1m with a ticket bought from Pak'n Save Papamoa

October : AJ's Lotto sold a winning $333,333 Lotto first division ticket