An Albany family is celebrating after learning that one of their customers won a massive $30 million Powerball jackpot, The New Zealand Herald has reported. Binal and Hiren Patel, owners of the Albany Central Superette in Auckland, have only been running the business for 18 months but have now sold a first-division winning ticket.
“We’ve sold second-division winning tickets before, but this is the first time we’ve sold a first-division ticket,” Hiren Patel said, clearly thrilled. His wife Binal echoed the excitement, adding, “It’s really exciting for us.”
The Patels discovered the big win after a call from their retail manager. “When we got home, my husband got a call saying we had sold the winning ticket,” Hiren said. “Usually, customers ask us if we’ve ever sold a big one, and we always say ‘not yet’—until now.”
A Lotto spokesperson confirmed that the $30.2 million prize, which includes $30 million from Powerball First Division and $200,000 from Lotto First Division, has yet to be claimed. The winning ticket was sold at Albany Central Superette, with four other First Division prizes of $200,000 being won by players in Whangārei, Auckland, Christchurch, and Canterbury.
Though the winner hasn’t yet come forward, the Patel family is hopeful they’ll hear from the lucky customer soon. In the past, winners have returned to share their joy with the store. “Last year, a woman came in to tell us she’d won second division,” Hiren recalled.
The Patels' young son, Jyan, is particularly excited about the win. He looks forward to telling his classmates that his family’s business sold a winning ticket.
The winning numbers from the draw were 32, 17, 28, 30, 21, and 12, with a bonus ball of 36 and Powerball 10. The latest draw comes just over two months after an Auckland player made history by winning $44 million, one of the largest single-player wins in New Zealand Lotto history.
This year has already seen a string of major wins. In June, a record $50 million Powerball jackpot was split between seven winners, each taking home $7.1 million. The final winner in that draw took almost a month to come forward.
Lotto encourages winners to check their tickets immediately. Those who purchased through MyLotto can see if they’ve won right away, with smaller prizes automatically credited to their accounts. Larger prizes require the winner to complete an online claim form, while those holding physical tickets need to visit a Lotto retailer to claim their winnings.
Powerball winners must match all six Lotto numbers and the Powerball number to take home the jackpot. If no one wins, the prize rolls over to the next draw until it is claimed or hits the "must-be-won" cap. If multiple players win Powerball, the jackpot is split equally among them.
So far in 2024, 17 lucky punters have become multimillionaires, cementing this year as a remarkable one for Powerball winners in New Zealand.
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