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More than one million tickets have already been sold ahead of tonight’s record-breaking ‘Must Be Won’ $55 million Powerball draw. 

Lotto NZ said 1.23 million Powerball tickets had been sold following the close of sales on Friday night. 

In a ‘Must Be Won’ draw, if there is no Division 1 Powerball winner, the jackpot rolls down to the next division where there are winners. 

The $55 million jackpot is the largest in Lotto NZ’s 38-year history, surpassing two $50 million ‘Must Be Won’ draws in 2020 and another in 2024. 

Lotto NZ head of corporate communications Will Hine said customers wanting to buy a ticket today should get in early, with queues expected to increase through the day ahead of the 7.30pm close-off. 

“There’s a lot of interest in this draw. We remind customers that big jackpots like this one still have small odds of winning – the odds of winning Powerball Division 1 don’t change from draw to draw and are 1 in 38 million on each line." 

The history of the 'Must Be Won' Lotto draws. Photo / Lotto NZ 

Victoria University of Wellington’s Richard Arnold said there was about a 30% chance that the full $55m would be won by one person, depending on the total number of players. 

He told Herald NOW’s Ryan Bridge if two million players buy 10 lines each, there’s about a 30% chance there will be a single winner in Division 1. He said if there are four million players that probably goes up to about 36%. 

The winners of the last $50m jackpot told Lotto the key was not to be changed by the sudden wealth. 

They advised Saturday’s winners to “make sure you’re confident in the team you build around you – you have to trust they are giving you good advice”. 

What to do if you win 

Ticket holders can see immediately if they have won if they purchased a ticket through MyLotto. Prizes of $1000 or less are automatically credited to the account. 

For prizes exceeding $1000, winners must complete an online prize claim form. 

Winners with a physical ticket must still visit a Lotto retailer to claim their prize. 

For the Powerball jackpot to be claimed, a ticket holder must get all six Lotto numbers correct as well as the added Powerball number. 

Jaime Lyth is a multimedia journalist for the New Zealand Herald, focusing on crime and breaking news. Lyth began working under the NZ Herald masthead in 2021 as a reporter for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei.