Lotto Powerball: Lucky Hamilton couple take home $8.3 million

A Hamilton couple has been living “in a dream” since taking out $8.3 million in Powerball last weekend.

The couple, who wish to remain anonymous, said they found out the morning after the draw.

“I was having my coffee and reading through some work emails when I came across an email from Lotto NZ saying I’d won a prize,” the man said.

“I jumped on to the MyLotto App to check my ticket, but didn’t actually see the numbers line up because I was too busy drinking my coffee.”

When he looked back at the ticket, he said it had $8.3 million written across the top, which he thought was $8333 at first glance.

“To be fair, I was pretty happy with that!

“I called my partner over to have a look, and she thought it was $8333, too.”

After closer inspection, the pair realised it was a lot more than they had expected.

“We were shocked and thought it was too good to be true, but when we looked online and saw someone in Hamilton had won $8.3 million, we realised we had really won,” he said.

After claiming their mammoth prize online, the couple “got on with their day”, but made sure to share the exciting news with their children and have celebratory drinks in the evening.

While it has been over a week, he said the news still had not sunk in.

“I’ve snuck a look at the winning ticket a few times in the past week to make sure it’s real.”

Despite their “life-changing” news, not much has changed for the couple in a material sense.

“We’re back at work and not rushing out to buy anything crazy – although we’ll be able to splash out a bit more this Christmas.

“We plan to take our time to think about what we really want to do. But we’ll definitely pay off our mortgage and help our family.

“This win has opened up so many opportunities for us, and we want to make sure we make the most of it.”