One lucky ticket holder from Oamaru is tonight $18.25 million richer after winning the Boxing Day Powerball jackpot.
The jackpot swelled to one of the larger wins of 2020 on Wednesday after no one registered the winning numbers.
Tonight's winner, who purchased their ticket at New World Waitaki in Oamaru, picks up $18 million for Powerball and another $250,000 - a quarter share of the $1 million First Division prize which was split between four players.
The three other tickets which didn't have the correct Powerball number are worth $250,000 each - their share of Division One.
They were bought from Four Square Matarangi in Whitianga, on MyLotto by a player from Tauranga, and at Countdown Church Street in Timaru.
Lotto's Triple Dip Christmas promotion with more than 300 extra prizes was also drawn tonight, including one prize of $1 million cash, five Jaguar cars and 300 prizes of $5,000 cash.
A lucky player from Auckland won the top promotion prize of $1 million. The winning voucher was sold at Mountain Road Pricecutter in Auckland.
The winning Jaguar voucher numbers and locations are:
The win caps off a year of big jackpots for Lotto players - particularly in the early months of 2020.
In May it was revealed Lotto had created 21 millionaires in the first 21 weeks of the year.
And by the end of the fifth month of the year, there had been 16 overnight millionaires with Lotto and Strike, with a further five multi-millionaires with Powerball.
In the biggest draw of the year, 10 lucky winners won $5m each after sharing the mammoth $50m Powerball jackpot in August.
After bagging massive Lotto prizes, winners have to head to Lotto's head office in Auckland, where they are taken to a special room stocked with Champagne, chocolate and even tissues for the emotional types. Winners also receive a book full of handy tips.
"The decision about what you do with your winnings is entirely yours - you will shape your future," the 60-page book states.
"We hope this booklet helps you to understand the steps ahead of you, make your goals easier to reach and, of course, enjoy your winnings!
"We wish you all the best for the future, and hope you'll look back on the day you found out you were a winner as one of the happiest days of your life."
The timetable for action
Winners could find themselves on a high, understandably so, after a major Lotto win but right after a win was not the right time to splurge.
One of the steps Lotto advised winners to follow is to create a timetable for action to help work out what winners wanted to do with their money.
Immediate action
• Decide who you want to tell;
• Deposit the money in an interest-earning bank account;
• Decide if you want to spend money straight away: how much and what on?
• Talk to family and close friends about what you could do;
• Decide whether you want professional advice and, if so, who you will ask.
Within a month
• Work out your new financial position - how much money do you have and owe?
• Start prioritising what you want to do with your money;
• Make a list of the priorities.
• Visit a financial adviser to discuss your new position and options.
One to three months
• Review your list of priorities;
• Begin making a financial plan to work out how much money you have and what you could do with it;
• Update your will, or make one if you don't have one.
Three to six months
• Review what has happened since your mammoth win;
• Amend your list of priorities - if you need to;
• Complete your financial plan.
Six months to one year
• Review your financial position and get further help if needed;
• Ask yourself if you're getting what you want from your win.
• If you're not, write down what's wrong and what steps you can make to amend things;
• Take action to make things better.
Previous winners' advice
• Think before you spend: it's best to spend some time to think about your win and what you really want to do with the money before you start forking out;
• Secrecy: be really careful who you decide to tell about your good fortune;
• Financial advice: Get help from a professional, they know what they're up to;
• Have fun: it's important to remember to take time to do the things you've always wanted to do for fun, once you've locked in funds for the future.
Interesting facts about Lotto's big winners
• 85 per cent of big winners kept working, remaining in the same job as before their win;
• 98 per cent of big winners still regularly buy Lotto tickets;
• 73 per cent of big winners surveyed won with a Lucky Dip ticket;
• 32 per cent were in their Lotto store when they found out they won, 27 per cent checked online and 26 per cent were watching the live Lotto draw;
• 19 per cent only told their other half, 31 per cent told their immediate family, 8 per cent told everybody and 5 per cent kept it to themselves;
• 23 per cent kept the winning ticket in their purse or wallet, 11 per cent in a drawer, and 5 per cent under their pillow.
