New Millionaires from New Zealand

A marvellous story took place in New Zealand at the end of September. A 3-year old boy from Christchurch (a city in the South Island) won 1 million New Zealand dollars at a national Bonus Bond lottery (which is approximately $726,000.00 USD based on the current exchange rate).

Thus he became the youngest millionaire of the country who managed to win the main prize. Bonus Bond is an investment company in New Zealand. Apart from just selling bonds it lets their holders participate in jackpot drawings. What is also important is that the prize is exempted from taxes.  

After the child’s birth his parents decided to invest into his future by purchasing securities for the sum of $180. They could not even imagine what it will lead to three years later. Upon returning from vacation they learned great news – they hit the jackpot! The mother of a young millionaire commended:

“When we heard about the win, it took our breath away. My husband literally started gasping for air as he was overwhelmed with emotions during the phone conversations with the lottery organising company. We started to run around the house shouting for joy. This moment was epic and astounding indeed. I knew my child was special – he was born on Christmas day, and now our baby is the youngest millionaire in the world! 

Bonus Bond representative confirmed the win of a monthly jackpot and mentioned other similar cases related to children, but it’s the first time in history when a three-year old became the winner. The full amount of the prize money will soon be given to the child’s parents. Meanwhile the oldest lottery winner is a 92-year old New Zealander, and 33% of the country population have bond certificates in possession. 

May in New Zealand was eventful with all sorts of  wins. On May 28 an anonymous resident of Tauranga on the North Island was on the way home from work and decided to go to the supermarket Pak and Save Papomoa to purchase three OZ Powerball lottery tickets. 

He was standing in a line to the lottery cashier when another customer asked to let him pass ahead as he was pressed for time. Since our young hero was not in a hurry at all and was a very delicate person in general, he did not mind. After purchasing the tickets he put them in the pocket and practically forgot about them. Two days later he decided to check his luck before leaving for work. And lo and behold! One of the tickets turned to be a lucky one with the prize money in the sum of 1 million New Zealand dollars. He did not say anything to his wife that morning and just went to work. He shared the news with her only in the evening. 

“My husband just went for work, as usual. It was just in the evening while we were having dinner he mentioned this win among other things. We could not sleep for the whole night thinking how to spend the money and decided to build the house of our dream” – that’s what the winner’s young wife said. 

The winner himself thinks that this prize is a reward for his gentle-hood and “positive karma”. He would not have won this million dollars if he had not let another person pass ahead of him in a queue. But OZ Powerball representative does not agree to this approach and says that sales of lottery tickets take place in real-time mode with random numbers, and the queue place here does not matter. And it’s not that important actually. We would like to congratulate these two lucky fellows from New Zealand!