Big Wednesday

[Beemer]

The winners are going to front up to a press conference this afternoon - this is from Stuff:

LATEST: Two sisters who won a share in last night’s Big Wednesday lotto millions will hold a one-off press conference today to discuss their win.

Lotteries Commission spokeswoman Karen Jones said the two would be representing the winning Masterton extended family who won the $36 million last night.

Ms Jones said four winners would be sharing the prize.

"They have stressed that this will be the only opportunity for media to ask them questions and to take photos, and there will be no follow up media interviews granted."

The man carrying New Zealand's most valuable lottery ticket initially suggested he meet Lotteries Commission staff at a Wellington bar.

But he was told that if he wanted to keep a low profile, verifying his record haul at Molly Malones on Courtenay Pl probably was not an option.

The ticket was bought at Masterton's Kuripuni Take Note Lotto and Post Shop and netted the lone first division winner $34,453,401 in cash, plus a slew of luxury prizes. The winner also claimed the second divison prize of $696,795. Last night's win follows a $5.5m Powerball win just 12 days ago in Masterton.

Lotteries Commission staff are due to meet the man at an undisclosed location in Wellington early this afternoon, after he claimed his prize over the phone within an hour of last night's draw.

Meanwhile, the Masterton region's 22,623 inhabitants are scrambling to work out who the country's newest multi-millionaire is.

A man phoned Masterton Mayor Garry Daniell this morning and discussed in some detail several council projects that could benefit from a substantial cash injection.

Mr Daniell believed this person was the winner, but Lotteries Commission staff are still trying to verify the caller's identity.

He said this morning that if the caller did turn out to be the winner, Masterton's single women should not get their hopes up.

"I wouldn't conclude that he was single at all," he said outside Take Note Lotto and Post Shop.

The winner's identity would spread through the community and he expected most locals would know who it was by the end of the day.

It was the ninth first division prize for Take Note and its second in two weeks after a win of about $500,000 on June 13.

Lotteries Commission spokeswoman Karen Jones said the winner had a "sleepless night".

"They were thinking seriously about keeping the Audi. They haven't yet made up their mind. There aren't many Audi R8's in New Zealand are there, but they love the car.

In an unprecedented move, the Lotteries Commission set up an 0800 phone number so last night's winner could claim the prize in "total secrecy".

Ms Jones said the number was set up so the winner could sidestep the usual process of turning up to the Lotteries Commission in Wellington.

"The winner's privacy is very important. We don't want them rocking up to a store or to our offices, because there is intense interest."

The winner had provided proof of the winning ticket, though several people had called thinking they had won, she said.

Last night two Lotteries staff members were sent to Masterton to help support the Kuripuni Take Note Lotto and Post Shop store today.

Local residents Doug and Liz Wishart said the excitement last night had been "almost too much to bear".

Though not the holders of the winning ticket, like everyone they wanted to know who the newly-minted multi-millionaire was.

"It's not something they are going to be able to keep quiet for long. Masterton is just too small and there are too many tongues that wag," said Liz Wishart.

So far this morning, dozens of punters have flooded through the doors at the store where the winning ticket was sold. Media crews have staked out the shop since 6am, hoping to catch sight of the big winner.

Shop owner Maureen Taute believed the winner was local. The shop is tucked away in a small shopping village and away from the beaten track of visitors.

"Most people who come in here are regulars and live locally. The guy who won $5.5 million from a ticket bought here recently came in ten days later to say very privately and quietly, thank you."

The store was robbed by a masked intruder on Monday.

[MD]

0oh bugger, the money should have been won by many and shared around.

Agreed. The Lotteries Comm have really screwed the pools to entice the gullible into spending heaps for a single unobtainable big prize.
What the hell. They could have made 36 millionaires last night. A much better outcome. Each would upgrade the home, car, holiday, ...spread the good word through the economy. Yes, I'm sure the winners are lovely deserving people.

4,700,000 tickets sold this week. Just one Buyer got Div. 1 $36m AND the same Buyer gets div 2 $696,000. So what goodies did the next in line winners get...wait for it. Don't butter that toast NZ.. it's big, it's fair, its...they got $988 Whoa! And it gets worse. Only 813 people got that whopper princely sum of $988

No way does anyone need to win more than $6m or so to be happy. Anything above $6m or there abouts should be spread down the next divisions. Atleast then the rest of us Losers have a chance of still getting something reasonable. Stuff me, you almost get the $36m but for second place you only get $988

The old Golden Kiwi had a fairer system. There was the single ticket 1st prize of $100,000. Then a set number of winners each got..something like $25,000 from memory. Next a bigger number of winners got , say $10,000 and so on it went. But you always knew that 2nd, 3rd div. were going to be worthwhile.

Oh, if you haven't picked it up. I didn't win.

[Beemer]

...4,700,000 tickets sold this week. Just one Buyer got Div. 1 $36m AND the same Buyer gets div 2 $696,000. So what goodies did the next in line winners get...wait for it. Don't butter that toast NZ.. it's big, it's fair, its...they got $988 Whoa! And it gets worse. Only 813 people got that whopper princely sum of $988...

The old Golden Kiwi had a fairer system. There was the single ticket 1st prize of $100,000. Then a set number of winners each got..something like $25,000 from memory. Next a bigger number of winners got , say $10,000 and so on it went. But you always knew that 2nd, 3rd div. were going to be worthwhile...

We were also discussing this last night and said the Golden Kiwi was a fairer system - x-many tickets sold, each with an equal chance of winning the big prize, then next drawn got a reasonable prize and so on. And every now and then they got a bigger prize and the tickets were $25 and I think the first prize was $1M.

I honestly thought that with so many tickets being sold for Big Wednesday that it would be shared out among more people. Yes, I'm a little envious I didn't win and wouldn't mind if I'd got the lot and I don't begrudge the people who won as they seem genuine and lovely, but it would have been nice if 36 people had won $1M each, or if the prize pool for the lower down prizes was higher. While I wouldn't sneeze at $988 right now, I would be really pissed off with $36.1M first prize, $696,000 second and - oh, $988 for third.

I don't know how they could make it fairer - perhaps have set prize pools and guaranteed minimum prizes. Yes, if you get three and the bonus (for Lotto) you usually double your money, but if you'd bought a Triple Dip, that's about $14 and often the prize you win is just $18 so it's not much of a return. Yes, we don't buy a ticket to win divisions four or five, but it would be nice to know that the smallest amount you could win was say $50. So what if less money went to the Hero Parade that year?

[mynameis]

Agreed. The Lotteries Comm have really screwed the pools to entice the gullible into spending heaps for a single unobtainable big prize.
What the hell. They could have made 36 millionaires last night. A much better outcome. Each would upgrade the home, car, holiday, ...spread the good word through the economy. Yes, I'm sure the winners are lovely deserving people.

4,700,000 tickets sold this week. Just one Buyer got Div. 1 $36m AND the same Buyer gets div 2 $696,000. So what goodies did the next in line winners get...wait for it. Don't butter that toast NZ.. it's big, it's fair, its...they got $988 Whoa! And it gets worse. Only 813 people got that whopper princely sum of $988

No way does anyone need to win more than $6m or so to be happy. Anything above $6m or there abouts should be spread down the next divisions. Atleast then the rest of us Losers have a chance of still getting something reasonable. Stuff me, you almost get the $36m but for second place you only get $988

The old Golden Kiwi had a fairer system. There was the single ticket 1st prize of $100,000. Then a set number of winners each got..something like $25,000 from memory. Next a bigger number of winners got , say $10,000 and so on it went. But you always knew that 2nd, 3rd div. were going to be worthwhile.

Oh, if you haven't picked it up. I didn't win.

+1 Agree on the Golden Kiwi