Wairarapa family syndicate claim $19 million Powerball prize

A Wairarapa family syndicate of three generations has claimed the $19.1 million Powerball First Division prize won in Greytown last week.

The winners, who wish to remain anonymous, purchased a ticket together every draw using numbers that are special to the family.

“As soon as I saw the winning numbers in the paper the next day, I thought they looked very familiar,” said the winner who purchased the ticket.

“But I couldn’t bring myself to check our ticket, which was sitting in the glovebox of my car. I kept eyeing up the car, going outside and opening the door . . . then shutting it and turning back to the house without so much as looking at the ticket.”

It wasn’t until a few days later that the winner finally mustered the courage to check that little yellow piece of paper – and discovered just how special those numbers would be to his family.

“I kept seeing things in the paper saying the prize hadn’t been claimed, so in the end I stood up and told my wife ‘this is it – I’m checking it’, and walked out to the car.

“I saw the winning line straight away and thought ‘those are the numbers in the paper’, then I put the ticket back in the glovebox and ran inside to check the paper again.

“I kept running back and forth between the car and the house to check and re-check the numbers – I don’t know why I didn’t just bring the ticket inside,” laughed the winner.

After checking the ticket several times, the winner raced inside to tell his family the good news.

The other $19.1 million Powerball winner is yet to claim their prize.