Photo / Michael Bradley
Waikato Lotto players have struck it lucky in last night’s draw.
A player who bought their ticket at Pauanui Supervalue and another from Hamilton who bought their ticket online via MyLotto were among 17 Lotto second division winners, each winning $26,424.
The other second division winners were from Auckland, Tauranga, Mount Maunganui, Paraparaumu, Upper Hutt, Carterton, Wellington, Ashburton and Southland. Second division Powerball was not struck.
Meanwhile, the second-largest Lotto Powerball draw of the year, $38 million, has gone unstruck and will jackpot to $44 million for Saturday’s draw, according to a Lotto spokesperson.
Strike Four also rolled over and will be $500,000 on Saturday night.
Last night’s numbers were: 40, 30, 29, 15, 31 and 13. The bonus ball was 12, and the Powerball was 3.
Five punters have each won $200,000, sharing the Lotto first division prize of $1 million.
The winning tickets were sold at New World Stoke in Nelson and on MyLotto to three players from Auckland and one from Westland.
The whopping prize pool has been rising since the last Powerball win on June 19, with the jackpot continually going unstuck and rolling over to the next draw.
If anyone should strike the correct numbers on Saturday, they will join 13 other Powerball multimillionaires created this year.
The biggest total prize of 2024 was struck on June 8, when a $50m must-be-won draw was shared between seven winning ticketholders who each took home $7.18m.
While two of those winners had claimed their share of the first prize by the next day, it took seven weeks for the final winner to come forward and collect their portion of the winnings.
One of the children of a winning couple, who wished to remain anonymous, said the family had a meeting to share the happy news.
“They’ve slowly been doing bits on the house, and now they can afford to finish the renovations,” the child said about the winning parents.
“We really want them to do something for themselves, though. They’ve been talking about a special overseas trip for a long time and now they can do that. It will be amazing for them,” said another of the children.
The next largest prize of the year was won on April 13, with a player in Wellington pocketing $30.16m.
Other Powerball jackpots won since then include $4.5m, won by a MyLotto player in Waikato on June 12 and $5.5m won on June 19 by a physical ticket bought in Waitara.
Meanwhile, two Waikato Lotto players were each more than $25,000 better off after the weekend’s draw.
Eighteen players won Lotto second division, each taking home $25,722. Three players also won second division Powerball, taking their winnings to $36,836.
The Waikato winners bought their tickets at Davies Corner Foodmarket and online via MyLotto.
And a Waikato Lotto player was more than $30,000 richer after last Wednesday night’s draw.
The MyLotto online player was one of 22 second division winners and one of two second division Powerball winners.
The Powerball winners, including a MyLotto player from Auckland, won $31,988. The other second division winners each took home $17,979.
Two Hamilton players were second division winners. One bought their ticket at New World Rototuna while the other bought their ticket online via MyLotto.