Lotto luck for this New Zealand family

In the New Zealand town of Nelson this weekend there is an as yet unidentified family that can hardly believe it’s Christmas good fortune…it has won $8.1 million in a combination of Powerball and ten division one prizes.

The grey, rainy weather conditions did nothing to dampen the family’s enthusiasm over the weekend as the news broke that the NZ$ 6 million Powerball prize was theirs, in addition to 10 division one prizes worth around $214,286 each.

Whilst the winning family kept a low profile and submitted their ticket claims to lottery authorities, the seller of the astonishingly luck tranche of tickets, convenience store owner David Smolenski, talked to the local press, telling reporters that the winning family were regular lotto players at his store, and that they had bought 10 tickets with their usual numbers, along with one of each of the 10 Powerball numbers on each ticket.

They won a NZ$ 214,286 share of the first division prize on each of the 10 tickets, as well as the NZ$ 6 million Powerball prize on one ticket, netting a total of NZ$ 8,142,860.

Smolenski said the winners were both excited and scared by the huge win.

“You couldn’t ask for a better Christmas, could you? I mean the weekend before Christmas, you get $8 million – I don’t know what gets better than that,” the store owner said.

Lotto spokeswoman Karen Jones said she had spoken to some very excited winners this morning.

“They found out they had won whilst watching the live Lotto draw. They recognised their numbers and then became very excited whilst they hurriedly tried to find the ticket and check it,” she said. “They’re over the moon.”

Jones said it was believed to be the first time someone had won Powerball as well as 10 first division prizes.