$23m Lotto jackpot: Customers urged to get tickets early

January 18, 2023
Person buying a lotto ticket.

Lotto is advising customers who want to buy a ticket for tonight's bumper $23 million jackpot to do so early.

On Saturday, customers spoke of issues on the MyLotto website, with some unable to purchase tickets to the $20 million draw for a period.

Services were eventually restored - and the problems didn't affect in-person sales or the draw itself.

Lotto NZ told 1News it was a software issue that caused the problem and it has put in place some changes ahead of tonight's draw.

It was expecting heavy traffic on the website as the draw approaches.

"Our teams are working hard to ensure everything runs smoothly, but we urge customers to buy their tickets early, rather than leaving it to the last minute," Lotto said.

The busiest times were between 5pm and 7.30pm, both in-store and online.

"However, if (online) traffic is very heavy, it’s possible customers who purchase tickets close to the draw may need to go into an online queue. We try our best to avoid this, but it is how we can ensure the site runs smoothly during high jackpots – when we have a big surge of people trying to buy tickets all at the same time."

Tonight's draw, which you can watch on TVNZ1 at 8.20pm, will see $23 million up for grabs in the Powerball draw, $1 million in first division and $1 million in Strike.

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