Lotto winner's pledge to Christchurch

Last updated 13:36 29/04/2011

 

The mysterious second winner of a $17.7 million Lotto prize has come forward, pledging to give some of her prize to the Christchurch earthquake appeal.

An Auckland woman claimed the Hamilton prize today, saying she had been on holiday and only discovered this week that she was one of two big winners on April 9.

After taking a couple of days for the shock to settle, the woman visited NZ Lotteries' Wellington office to claim her prize.

"I still don't believe this is real. I never thought I would win," said the woman, who wishes to remain anonymous.

The winner, who is not a regular Lotto player, was passing through Hamilton and purchased the winning ticket on a whim from Take Note Dinsdale after seeing the $34 million prize offer.

"I was scared when I first discovered I'd won because the prize is so big.

"This is a life-changing prize, but I'm going to keep things simple, keep working, live my normal life," she said.

She planned to give some of the money to charity, including the Christchurch earthquake appeal.

The other winning $17.7 million Powerball ticket won in the same draw was sold at Dannevirke New World and was claimed shortly after the draw.

It is the fifth-equal largest Powerball prize at $17,723,538.