Hamilton man plans to spend some of his $9.3m win on making his kids' wishes come true

A Hamilton man was trembling after the words "major prize" flashed up on his screen after winning $9.3 million with Powerball. Photo / Lotto NZ

A Hamilton man planning to make some of his children's dreams a reality after winning $9.3 million with Powerball on Saturday will start by buying a puppy and a new house.

The man, who did not want to be named, took his children to the hairdresser at Chartwell mall on Saturday and decided to buy a Lotto ticket at Chartwell Lotto on their way back to the car.

As part of his ritual of buying a ticket, the man said he always checked how many people had won before checking his own ticket, which he did on Sunday night. He said it always added suspense knowing someone had struck the big one.

The man then checked his ticket on the Lotto NZ app where the words "major prize winner" flashed up.

His children knew something was up when he went into shock and started shaking.

But before finding out how much he had won, he asked them: "What would you do if we won Lotto?"

"They rattled off a whole bunch of things – buy a house, buy a puppy, visit family and go on a holiday ... It was fun just dreaming of all the things we could do."

He then decided to check the numbers on his ticket to find out.

"5, 7, 8, 12, 14, 29 ... I circled them off one by one," said the winner.

"When I saw the winning Powerball number sitting at the end of the line as well, I really couldn't believe it. I felt like I was in a dream! My youngest son started jumping and shouting, he was just so excited."

Still in a state of shock, the man called some close friends and asked them to come over.

"We thought something was wrong to begin with – he sounded terrible on the phone, so we dropped everything and rushed over," the friend said.

"Then it was our turn to be shocked."

When the friends arrived, the man gave them each a big hug and told them he had won Lotto.

He hung onto his ticket until Tuesday morning when he travelled to Lotto's Auckland head office to claim the prize.

The man planned to use his winnings to make some of his children's dreams come true by ticking off some of the items on their Lotto wishlist.

Buying a new house was on the top of his list along with a puppy for his kids.

I haven't bought anything special yet. But I think we will be doing some celebrating this weekend.

He planned to sit down with his children tonight to make a bucket list, but said it would include helping family and friends who had helped him through thick and thin.

"This win means so much for me and my family – it's going to make such a huge difference to our lives.

"I still can't believe that I'll be able to tick off some of the things my kids and I chatted about on Sunday night."

This is the sixth time Powerball First Division has been won so far this year.