The $44 million jackpot has been claimed. Photo / Dean Purcell

Lotto winner claims $44 million prize, the largest in history

Author: NZ Herald,
Publish Date: Mon, 12 Aug 2024, 12:57pm

The lucky punter who has taken home the largest win in Lotto history has claimed their prize.

Along with the mega $44 million with Powerball, this Saturday’s winner also takes home $666,670 with Lotto First Division.

Lotto NZ Head of Corporate Communications Lucy Fullarton said the player had chosen the same numbers for all ten lines.

“The lucky winner played ten lines with the same Lotto numbers, each with a different Powerball number (one through to ten).

“This means as well as winning Powerball First Division of $44 million, they also won ten shares of Lotto First Division – a total of $666,670.”

The lucky numbers were 24, 17, 25, 30, 6 and 3. The bonus ball was 36, and the Powerball was 1.

Fourteen other players who did not have the Powerball Number each collected $66,667.

Those tickets were bought from Relay Auckland Domestic Airport, Caltex Dinsdale in Hamilton, and on MyLotto by players from Northland, Auckland and Wellington.

Two people shared Strike Four’s $500,000 prize, each collecting $250,000.

Those tickets were bought on MyLotto by players from Christchurch and Auckland.

In June, a record $50 million Powerball jackpot was split between seven people - each claiming $7.1 million.

Tonight’s win equals the $44.06 million won by an Auckland couple in 2016.

As well as not having a heart attack, the couple said their “best piece of advice” to any future winner is to remember to eat and sleep in the first two weeks.

“It’s the little things like that that are easy to forget in the early days after a big win.”

Another pair, who split a $50m jackpot in 2020, thought it was important to find the right people to tell.

“Keep your circle small, but definitely share the news with someone. You will need the support of at least one other person to get you through those first weeks.

“For me, that was so important, it gave me people to talk to and bounce ideas off while I got my head around the whole thing.”

2024′s biggest win so far

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.