Two lucky New Zealanders are heading into the long weekend $200,000 richer after each striking it big in Saturday's live Lotto draw.
The winning tickets were sold at Pak N Save Westgate in Auckland and Four Square & Lotto Martina in Thames.
Powerball was not struck and has rolled over to Wednesday night, where the jackpot will reach $28 million — the largest Powerball prize on offer this year.
Saturday's winning Lotto numbers were 8, 10, 29, 35, 36 and 39, with Bonus Ball 3 and Powerball 3.
Seven players also shared the Lotto First Division prize, each winning $142,857. Winning tickets were sold at Borman Road Superette in Hamilton, Four Square Awapuni in Palmerston North, New World Stokes Valley in Lower Hutt, Pak N Save Riccarton in Christchurch, and New World Timaru in Timaru.
Two of the winning tickets were sold online through MyLotto to players from Auckland.
Ticket holders from any of the above stores or MyLotto were advised to check their tickets in-store, on MyLotto, or through the MyLotto App.
Wednesday's draw is live on TVNZ 1 and TVNZ+ at 8pm.
The $28 million jackpot on Wednesday will be the largest Powerball prize on offer since a New Plymouth woman took home $14.3 million last month — the most recent major Lotto win in New Zealand.
The woman, who wished to remain anonymous, said her whole body went numb after matching all six numbers plus the Powerball on MyLotto.
She and her husband celebrated with a takeaway and a glass of champagne before planning how to share their windfall with family and others.
For those eyeing the upcoming jackpot, Lotto NZ was clear-eyed about the odds.
Powerball always offered the same one in 38.3 million chance to win First Division per line, regardless of the amount set for the jackpot.
Buying more tickets would make little difference either, they added.
"Even if you buy multiple tickets for the same draw, your chances of winning will hardly increase at all.
"Because each new ticket had the same odds, there is no way that winning can average out in your favour over time," Lotto said.
Lotto also cautioned against reading too much into near misses, saying each outcome was independent and had no bearing on future draws.
"You can’t predict which numbers will come up in a draw-based game, and therefore any strategies or techniques are redundant."
Still, some numbers have appeared more often than others historically.
Strike numbers 1 and 19 have each featured on 253 winning tickets, Lotto number 1 is the most common with 418 appearances, and Powerball number 2 leads its category with 210 winning tickets.
Wednesday's draw is live on TVNZ 1 and TVNZ+ at 8pm.
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