The winning ticket was sold at the Martina Four Square store in Thames. Photo/Supplied
A Thames couple have claimed the mega $27 million lottery prize won at the weekend.
The Powerball prize - New Zealand's fourth biggest - has left the winners overwhelmed, breathless and in tears.
"It still doesn't seem real," the winner said. "I keep crying every time I think about it."
The lucky couple, who wish to remain anonymous, play Lotto every week.
However, they didn't bother to check their winning ticket until Sunday night.
"We were having a cup of tea and just started talking about it and wondering who had won. Then we figured we should check our ticket, so at least we would know one way or the other.
"So we pulled up the Lotto results on the computer and instantly the winning numbers just leaped out at me. I didn't even need to circle any of them, they all just lined up on the top row.
"I couldn't breathe. I kept trying to speak, but nothing would come out," the winner said.
"Eventually I turned to my husband, in a flood of tears, and said, 'darling, I think we've won it'."
They contacted the Martina Four Square store where they had bought the winning ticket to let them know they were the winners. The manager arranged for them to slip in the back entrance and closed the store to run the ticket through the machine.
"The Lotto manager said to us, 'the machine will make it real' and he took the ticket to check. The next thing he said to us was 'congratulations - you've won it'.
"I just burst into tears - again."
The couple said they still had trouble believing their luck and were slowly getting used to their incredible windfall.
They were tossing up between a new house or an overseas holiday, but their family's future was a top priority.
'Instead of a ban, why not work to improve the platforms?'