New Zealand Powerball winner gives away half of jackpot in less than a week

NEW ZEALAND POWERBALL WINNER GIVES AWAY HALF OF JACKPOT IN LESS THAN A WEEK

A man who won over $20 million on the New Zealand Powerball last weekend has already given away $10 million – half of his winnings.The lottery winner from Christchurch in New Zealand, told lottery officials that he’s split his $20.2 million New Zealand Powerball winnings with family members, explaining that his generosity will “keep me on an even keel.” A woman from North Carolina who won $2 million on the US Powerball decided to give her prize money to her family, while a Florida Lotto winner of $43 million planned to give all of her windfall away to her family.The man is an electrician in his late 50s, and he told lottery officials that although he heard there was a local Powerball winner in Christchurch, he resisted the urge to check his ticket as soon as the drawing took place. A man from Virginia who won $1 million on the Mega Millions didn’t check his ticket right away because he heard that somebody else had claimed to be the local winner.“It’s been all that anyone has been talking about around here,” the New Zealand Powerball winner said, continuing to say that friends asked him if he’d bought a ticket for last weekend’s drawing, and then were shocked when he said he hadn’t checked it yet. “I thought when I checked my ticket, I’d find out for sure it wasn’t me. And it was fun to dream for a while,” he told New Zealand Powerball officials.The winning ticket was purchased from the Hornby Mall Lotto, and despite that being broadcast, the winner said he still didn’t want to check it straight away. The New Zealand Powerball winner eventually decided to check his ticket midweek, but he said that when he handed it over to a store clerk to have it checked, he had a knot in his stomach.But the winning music played, and the store clerk passed him a piece of paper with the words “$20.2 million” on it, and the Christchurch man had no idea what to do. “You think you know how you’re going to react when you get news like that, but to be honest all I felt was this huge sense of relief.” He admitted that his first sensible thought was his ability to retire early.As well as having given half of the winnings away, the New Zealand Powerball winner also said he plans to take his extended family on holiday next year, but he won’t be going crazy. A recent EuroMillions winning syndicate from Ireland planned to take a holiday to the Bahamas but stressed that they wouldn’t be going mad, while a Michigan man who won twice on the Keno Lottery in seven months said that he planned to be sensible with his winnings.Get ready to win big and play online with us at Lottery24.com.