Two lucky Powerball winners have split a $10 million jackpot – one who had previously bought only two tickets before striking it rich. 

The winners, an Auckland family and a Tauranga couple, took home $5.25m each. 

Both claimed their prizes within hours of each other on Sunday and are looking at buying their first homes with their share of the prize. 

The Tauranga couple are not regular players and said they were still in shock. 

“We don’t buy tickets regularly, we just picked one up as we were near the dairy, I’d say it’s only the third ticket we’ve ever bought,” the woman said. 

The couple say this win is going to change their life after working hard to set themselves up for the future. 

“We don’t own a house and we’ve been working very hard and studying to create the life we want. 

“We got all six and I was so excited, I said to my husband, ‘we’ve won Lotto first division’.” 

Then she looked again and realised they had also matched the correct Powerball number. 

“I was in such shock that I just froze, I didn’t know what to say or do. 

“We’re going to celebrate by throwing a big party for our families,” she said. 

The Tauranga couple are not regular players and say they are still in shock. Photo / Alex Burton 

An Auckland family who shared the other half of the jackpot checked their ticket while out for their usual breakfast on Sunday morning. 

“After our breakfast we went to the mall to pick up a few groceries and I said to my partner that we should remember to check our ticket while we were there. 

“We keep them in the sun visor in the car,” the man said. 

The family went to the supermarket and checked their ticket. 

“My partner turned to me with a big grin and said, ‘we should take this to the counter’. I still didn’t have a clue what was going on, but I think she did,” he said. 

The Lotto operator put their ticket through the machine and the winning music played. 

“Then she put up the closed sign … and I still didn’t twig. I thought we’d maybe won $1000 and she might have needed to get authorisation to pay that amount. 

“The manager came and confirmed that we’d won $5.25m and some paperwork would be required. It was definitely not what I was expecting, so I just said ‘woah, I need to go for a walk’.” 

Jaime Lyth is a multimedia journalist for the New Zealand Herald focusing on crime and breaking news. Lyth began working under the NZ Herald masthead in 2021 as a reporter for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei.