A tricky West Coaster has outstmarted Lotto this week, to bring home a $15.77 million Powerball prize.
The punter, who hails from Hokitika, won first division 10 times last Saturday night after buying 10 tickets.
A Lotteries Commission spokesperson says the winner played the same six numbers on all 10 tickets, but exhausted all 10 of the Powerball numbers.
“It means if those numbers come up, they’re guaranteed to win the Powerball,” the spokeswoman says.
All up, the winner took out first division 10 times and the Powerball once, taking home $769,000 for the first division wins and a whopping $15 million for the Powerball.
If they had purchased only one ticket, they would have been forced to share the first division prize of $1 million with three others who had the lucky numbers last Saturday.
Instead, the other three winners from Auckland, Lower Hutt and Nelson took home only $76,923 each.
The winner has been contacted about the prize, but is yet to officially claim it.
3 News