A lucky Christchurch resident was the sole winner of Wednesday’s massive Lotto Powerball jackpot of $33.5. This marks the ninth multimillion-dollar Powerball prize won in 2023.
But even the biggest NZ Lotto single ticket win of $44 million pales in comparison to the world record holder for the biggest jackpot won by a single person.
That honour goes to Edwin Castro from California who bagged the US$2.05 billion ($3.36 billion) US Powerball
Despite the massive win, Mr Castro just missed qualifying as a billionaire as he opted for a single reduced lump sumo of US$997.6 billion instead of receiving it in installments over 29 years.
But even that reduced amount would make him a billionaire in New Zealand at $1.16 billion in New Zealand dollars! That’s 49X what Wednesday’s winner won.
Can New Zealanders join the US Powerball?
As of 30th June, the US Powerball stands at over $1 billion! With such a massive difference in payouts, you might be wondering – can people from New Zealand opt to join the US Powerball instead?
The short answer is yes! You can buy official US Powerball tickets through online lottery sites like LottoGo.com which we covered in a previous article.
