By 1news.co.nz and is republished with permission
Two winners of the must-win $50m Lotto draw last Saturday are yet to come forward to claim their prize, with officials saying steps will be taken to find them if they remain unclaimed for two weeks.
2.6 million tickets were bought by players across New Zealand for Saturday night’s draw, with the two remaining winners buying their tickets in Auckland at Victoria St Woolworths Metro and Royal Oak Mall Lotto.
Lotto NZ corporate communications manager Sarah McCormack said it was “unusual but not unheard of” for big winners not to claim their prizes immediately.
“Most Powerball winners claim within a few days – but sometimes there can be a delay if they’re away, busy or have even temporarily forgotten they bought it in the first place.”
If winners haven’t claimed their tickets within a couple of weeks, Lotto will start taking steps to find them, she said.
“Making sure our winners receive their prizes in a reasonable time frame is a critical part of what we do, but it can be a bit of a balancing act between giving our winners the space to have that ‘winning’ moment, and making sure they know they are holding a winning ticket and need to claim their prize.”
Five have already claimed their $7.18m prize, with the Hamilton winner saying he only buys a ticket when the Powerball hits $10m.
When he saw his local store had sold one of the winning tickets, he quickly checked his.
“When they showed me the amount all I could say was ‘nah, surely not?!'”
Another of the Auckland winners who bought her ticket at Pak’n’Save Wairau Rd on the North Shore said she needed a couple of days to “chill and absorb the news” before claiming her prize.
Lotto reveals where winning tickets sold in $50m Powerball draw
She said she didn’t get much sleep and was “really scared of losing that ticket”.
“I spent a lot of time googling ‘what to do when you’ve won Lotto’.”
