Lotto Powerball jackpot: Tickets sales close for monster draw, fourth ...

There are only a couple of hours to go until New Zealanders find out whether tonight’s bounteous $43 million Lotto Powerball jackpot belongs to them.

Sales close at 7.30pm and the winning numbers will be drawn about 8.30pm. The winning numbers will be published by the Herald here once they are drawn.

The mouth-watering sum is the fourth-largest Powerball jackpot in Lotto history - but if the top prize is won by just one ticket, it would be the second-largest individual winning. Tonight’s jackpot is also the largest since October 2021.

Lotto NZ was expecting to sell 1.43m tickets for the draw, with 395,000 already sold by Monday night.

If nobody wins the jackpot tonight, it will roll over to Saturday’s draw, likely pushing the jackpot up to $50m - a must-be-won jackpot.

However, ticket sales are lower than what has been seen for similarly sized jackpots in previous years - something Lotto NZ said could be due to high living costs making people spend less on discretionary items.

Lotto NZ’s Lucy Fullerton told the Herald Saturday’s draw attracted 1.43m tickets, a slim majority of which were bought in-store rather than through MyLotto online.

“Because [tonight’s] jackpot is a big one, we’re expecting stores and online to be very busy, and we recommend anyone who wants to be in to win gets their ticket early,” Fullerton said.

“Stores will be busy from mid-afternoon, and online from around 6.30pm, so our advice for players is to buy your ticket ahead of those times.”

The jackpot has risen after a series of draws were not won over the past few weeks, and it makes tonight’s total prize pool the sixth-largest since Lotto began. Strike! has spiked to $400,000 and Lotto’s division prize is $1m.

There were two $50m Powerball jackpots won in 2020 and a $44m prize was taken out in 2016.

“When a player wins a big jackpot, our Winners Experience team gets in touch with them immediately after they have claimed, to ensure they have all the support they need to make the most of what is a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” Fullerton earlier told the Herald.

Big winners are invited to Lotto’s head office in Auckland, where they head to the Winner’s Room - a private room set up for the purpose of celebrating.

“This gives winners a chance to process what has happened, and of course, we pass on the advice they need,” Fullerton said.

“We talk them through how they might seek professional financial advice, put them in touch with the right person at their bank, and pass on the tips we have gathered from 30 years of Lotto NZ winners.”

Most big winners decide to keep their win a secret and Fullerton said the meeting is a good chance to talk about their big win with someone who is not a friend or family member.

Raphael Franks is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. He joined the Herald as a Te Rito cadet in 2022.