Invercargill's $17.25m Lotto winner claims prize
Lotto/Supplied
This Wednesday’s Powerball winner has claimed their prize.
It’s unlikely to particularly trouble the Invercargill-based winner of a $17.25m Powerball prize, but their massive windfall is just the 34th biggest Lotto win to date.
The winner promptly came forward to claim their prize, though no further details about them were immediately available.
Sold on MyLotto, this was the second-largest Southland prize on record, topped only by a $20.5m win at the Windsor Stationery & Lotto in 2012.
And even that didn’t make the country’s top 10 wins, which range from the $44m sold in Auckland in 2016 to the tenth-placed $26.6m in Waikato that same year.
None of the top-10 has been in the South Island.
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In downtown Invercargill, imaginations were whirring, with many people assuring many other people they weren’t the winner.
But if they were?
Robyn Edie/Stuff
Farmers staff member Karyn Lay would keep working even if she won $17 million.
“I wouldn’t tell anybody,’’ said Karyn Lay.
“I’d do some renovation to my house, but I’d just carry on at work like normal. I like working.
“I don’t like sitting at home doing nothing.’’
Robyn Edie/Stuff
Katrina Allen would probably shout herself a few things if she was the winner.
Katrina Allen hadn’t heard about the win. “It’s wonderful for the person, and wonderful for Invercargill ... because it usually goes to Auckland, or the North Island, doesn’t it?
If she had been the winner? “I’d probably help the family. They’re not needy-needy, but it would be a help. You would probably just shout yourself a few things too.’’
Robyn Edie/Stuff
Janelle Davison would buy a small lifestyle block.
Janelle Davison was downtown with her daughter Hannah Cormack: “We weren’t going to tell anybody,’’ she joked when a reporter approached her. “We just wanted to keep it a secret.’’
Had she really won then she would look after the family, pay off the mortgage, and buy a lifestyle block. “You wouldn’t have to buy a big one, but one where you’d have your open garden and some edibles.’’
Robyn Edie/Stuff
Hannah Cormack with her son Bodhi Johnston, would buy herself and her partner a nice big home in Riverton, overlooking the sea.
For her part, Hannah would buy herself and her partner a nice big home in Riverton, overlooking the sea. She’d help people close to her “pay a little bit of their debt off” but then “I’d start an animal sanctuary – buy a bit of land and rescue some animals from the SPCA”.
Should the winner, somewhat less high-mindedly, decide to blow the whole lot on Southland sushi - the south’s beloved cheese rolls - they could buy roughly 2.5 million of the better coffee-house ones. (Or, even less plausibly, they could go the economy route and get 13 million supermarket ones).
Or you could walk into a city fish and chip shop, and order about 450,000 dozen raw oysters. Though you might have a bit of a wait.
Lotto advises all its big winners to think before they spend to ensure they don’t make any rash decisions.
Corporate communications manager Sarah McCormack said people should be careful who they tell and get financial advice from a professional adviser who could help with a day-to-day budget or long-term investment advice.
“And have fun,’’ she said. “It’s not every day that you will win Lotto.’’
Winners were typically invited to Auckland to celebrate in person and many did, but personal circumstances meant not all did.
“Whether in person or online, we always provide our winners with in-depth advice and support to help them make the most of their life-changing win, McCormack said.
Southland has had a run of winners in recent weeks, including an Invercargill player who won $500,000 on April 22, and a Gore player who won $200,000 on April 5.
Another Southlander won $40,369 on April 19, and two more each won $21,969 on April 22.
Top 10 Southland Lotto prizes
$20.5m, Windsor Stationery & Lotto, November 2012. $17.25, MyLotto, April 2023 $6.33m, MyLotto, December 2022 $5m, Collingwood Foodcentre, August 2020 $2.83m, Fresh Choice Te Anau, January 2021 $2.6m, Night n Day Gore, October 2007 $2.3m, Plaza Supervalue, August 2006 $1m, Avenal Dairy and Lotto, April 2005 $1m, Collingwood Foodcentre, March 2016 $1m, Elles Rd New World, April 201The Southland Times
