The Lotto Powerball jackpot has been rolling over for several weeks now, with an eye-watering prize of $43 million on the line in Wednesday night's draw.
If nobody wins Powerball again, the jackpot will roll over.
Lotto NZ's projections show the jackpot will reach the $50 million mark if it's not struck tomorrow. The amount the jackpot increases by is determined by a number of factors, the most important of which is sales in the week prior, it said.
The Powerball prize is legally capped at $50 million, which means it must be won when it reaches that limit.
How do you win Powerball?
In a regular draw, the Powerball jackpot is struck if a player’s ticket includes all six Lotto numbers (a Lotto Division 1 win) plus the matching Powerball number.
In a “must be won” scenario, the Powerball jackpot prize rolls down the divisions until there is a winner or winners.
Tonight’s Lotto Powerball jackpot is a whopping $43m, so we asked people what they’d do if their numbers came up. (Source: 1News)
For example, if nobody gets all six Lotto numbers plus the Powerball number, the Powerball prize is allocated to any Powerball Division 2 winners who have the matching Powerball number.
If there are no Division 2 winners with the matching Powerball number, the jackpot rolls down to any Division 3 winners who have the right Powerball number – and so on.
This means there could potentially be multiple Powerball winners sharing the $50 million prize.
Since Powerball began in 2001, there have been 10 "must be won" draws. Two of those have been draws of $50 million.
Two players split the $50 million prize in March 2020, each winning Powerball First Division. The two lucky players took home $25.1 million - $111,111 each from Lotto First Division and the $25 million share of the Powerball jackpot.
Later that year, another $50 million “must be won” draw rolled down to Second Division, meaning the jackpot was shared between 10 winners.
Of course, there could well be no “must win” Powerball jackpot if the prize is struck in Wednesday’s draw.
The Lotto NZ website advises anyone who wins a major prize to contact their Winners’ Team via Lotto’s 0800 phone number (0800 695 6886).
The organisation said it does like to meet Powerball First Division winners in person at its headquarters.
If you find out in store that you have won the big prize, the Lotto retailer will call the customer service team to let them know. Lotto advises retailers to be discreet about big winners and take them to a quiet spot to fill out paperwork and go through what happens next.
If your winning Powerball ticket was bought as part of a group or syndicate, the law says Lotto NZ can only pay the prize to the ticket holder. The winning group or syndicate would need to arrange payment to other prize winners itself.
Last year, a Christchurch winner won a $33.5 million Lotto jackpot in June. The prize was made up of $33 million from Powerball and $500,000 from Lotto.
That ticket was sold at Fresh Choice Merivale.
The biggest Powerball prize won in 2023 was $37.125 million won by a Paraparaumu couple.
That ticket was sold at New World Kāpiti in August.
The biggest ever jackpot won by a single ticket was in 2016 when one player won $44 million.
What would you do?
1News on Wednesday spoke to people in Wellington about what they'd do if they won the big one.
"I'd probably fall over laughing for a start," one man said.
Another said he'd go for a long overseas trip, and start up a charity.
One woman said she'd buy a house, pay off her student loan, and it was unlikely she'd turn up to work.
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