The woman was spending the weekend in Whangamatā with family when she decided to buy a Powerball ticket before heading home.
“We had breakfast in town and wandered to the shop afterwards,” she said, wishing to remain anonymous.
“My brother bought a ticket first, and then I followed.”
Her place in the queue would prove crucial.
“I was busy settling back in and didn’t check my ticket until Sunday night,” she said.
“When I scanned my ticket on the app, it said I’d won a major prize, which I figured was something like $500. That would be pretty major.”
When checking her ticket, she found a line with all her numbers.
“Oh my gosh,” she thought, later revealing the news to her brother.
She recalled screaming: “That’s my ticket.”
“[Her brother] couldn’t believe it and joked that it should have been him.”
The woman was “buzzing” and celebrated with a glass of bubbles before heading to bed, though she “didn’t get much sleep”.
The next day, she took her ticket in store to confirm her good news.
“I wanted to make sure I wasn’t dreaming.”
The woman is excited about her future.
“I plan to travel overseas and invest some of the money in a retirement fund. I think it’s important to think ahead,” she said.
The winning Lotto First Division ticket was sold at Whanga Books in Whangamatā for the draw on Saturday, May 6.
-Bay of Plenty Times
