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Source: ONE News -
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The $35 million 'Must Be Won' Lotto Powerball prize has been split between two North Island ticket holders.
Those winners bought their tickets at New World in Dannevirke and Take Note Dinsdale in Hamilton.
Lotto spokeswoman Karen Jones said the Powerball number of three was the magic number for the winners tonight.
The two tickets are worth just under $18 million each. The two winners also won an additional $111,111 with Lotto First Division.
"Winning a total of $17.7 million is absolutely life-changing for these players. We now advise the lucky ticket holders to give us a call at 0800 MYLOTTO," said chief executive Todd McLeay of NZ Lotteries.
Jones said the prize went up even higher today. There are seven other Lotto players from Rotorua, Lower Hutt, Napier, Manukau, Pukekohe, Ohope and North Shore City who have won a Lotto First Division prize of $111,111 tonight.
Strike Four was also struck tonight with three players each winning a share of $127,249. The winning Strike Four tickets were sold at Lytton West Post and Lotto in Gisborne, Glenn Innes Dairy and Lotto in Auckland and Bridge Street Dairy in Christchurch.
Lotto retailers were flat out throughout New Zealand earlier today, with Lotto Powerball jackpot tickets selling at the rate of a thousand a minute.
As the day drew on, buyers were forking out $1700 per minute on tickets, and there was also big jump on online ticket sales.
NZ Lotteries recorded a milestone Lotto sales week of $34 million, beating the previous record of $28 million.
Manukau City Lotto owner Marilyn Corfield said there had been a buzz of excitement in her store.
She said between 30 and 40 people at a time were lining up to get their tickets.
The big rush for tickets had come in the last hours of sales, with the Lotto counters closing at 7pm for the 8pm draw.
Problem Gambling Foundation said it was worried about people who buy more tickets than they can afford, where three or four tickets can be a large part of a family's weekly grocery budget.
And along with the lucky winners, plenty of charities and organisations will also benefit from sales, with 20 cents in every dollar going to them through Lotto grants.
- with Newstalk ZB
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