A $10 million must-be-won jackpot is up for grabs this weekend, the last draw with 10 balls before Lotto NZ moves to the new 14-ball format.
In March, Lotto NZ announced a move to a new 14-ball game which it says will "increase the number of prize divisions and the likelihood of winning a prize in each draw".
It is also adding a new Powerball Division 8, raising the starting Powerball jackpot from $4 million to $5 million and increasing the maximum jackpot from $50 million to $60 million.
The changes mean the odds of winning the big prize in Powerball Division 1 will go from about 1 in 38.4 million to about 1 in 53.7 million for every line on a ticket.
The first draw with the expanded game will be held on Wednesday next week.
Lotto NZ chief innovation and product officer Ben Coney said the lottery has boosted this weekend's jackpot to $10 million.
"We’re making this draw a Must Be Won event to clear the jackpot prize pool, before we reset the game to 14-balls and a brand-new starting jackpot of $5 million.
"With a big prize pool up for grabs, we expect plenty of Kiwis will want to get in on the action," Coney said.
Read more: Lotto's top prize to hit $60m – but it’s never been harder to win
If there are no winners in Powerball Division 1, the jackpot will be shared in the next division down where there are winners.
"The great thing about Must Be Won draws is that the prize often gets shared. We’ve previously held 13 Must Be Won draws and in eight of those cases the jackpot has been split among multiple winners."
Coney previously said customers "don't need to increase their spending on Powerball".
"Powerball may be changing but our players don’t have to. They can keep spending the same amount as they do now, with no changes to the price of a Powerball line."
After the draw, users will be unable to access MyLotto while upgrades for the new draw are made.
"Players will be unable to log in to MyLotto on Saturday night after the draw, which means it won’t be possible to view tickets or use the ticket-checker function," Coney said.
“We’ll be back to full functionality, including the ticket-checker, on Sunday morning."
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