Record NZ$50 Million New Zealand Powerball Jackpot Must Be Won
A record-breaking New Zealand Powerball draw beckons on Saturday after the jackpot reached NZ$50 million for the first time ever. The top prize must now be given away this weekend so a big win is guaranteed, even if no tickets match all the numbers. Find out all about the big draw and how it works.
No Winners Yet in 2020
It has only taken a couple of months for the historic jackpot to accumulate. The most recent win occurred in the final draw of 2019, when a single player from Twizel in Canterbury landed more than NZ$17 million on 28th December.
The jackpot has snowballed over a sequence of 17 rollovers, culminating in Wednesday night’s draw when a top prize of NZ$42 million proved to be just out of reach. Six ticket holders matched all six Lotto numbers to split NZ$1 million, while five participants matched five Lotto numbers, the Bonus Ball and the Powerball to bank NZ$28,152 each.
Lottery fans in New Zealand can now look forward to the biggest draw of all time, with a surge of ticket sales expected before Saturday’s draw. Marie Winfield, Head of Communications and Corporate Social Responsibility at Lotto NZ, is hoping that the queues at stores will lead to ‘a queue at the winners’ room’ by Monday morning.
She said: “The jackpot has reached a jaw-dropping $50 million and must be won this Saturday. If a single player is lucky enough to win Powerball, they’ll enter Lotto NZ’s history books as the largest prize winner ever.”
The record for the biggest Powerball win belongs to a couple from Dairy Flat in Auckland who won NZ$44 million in November 2016, but that could be surpassed if there is a single jackpot winner in Saturday’s draw. However, there’s a good chance that the prize money will be split between multiple winners, as it will be a Must Be Won draw - only the sixth in Lotto history.
How Must Be Won Draws Work
The Must Be Won draw will go ahead on Saturday because the jackpot has hit its NZ$50 million cap. The rules of the game do not allow the jackpot to climb any higher, so it is guaranteed to be paid out to lucky winners this weekend.
To win the jackpot in Powerball, you must match all six Lotto numbers plus the Powerball. If anyone does this on Saturday, they will pocket the NZ$50 million top prize. If there are multiple winners, it will be shared between everyone matching six numbers plus the Powerball.
However, if no tickets match all six Lotto numbers plus the Powerball, the entire NZ$50 million will be split between all the players in the highest winning division. It is therefore possible that the biggest jackpot of all time may be snapped up by one or more players who do not even match all the numbers.
Go to the New Zealand Powerball section to find out even more about the game, then set your sights on trying to win Saturday’s jackpot. You can visit authorised retailers in New Zealand or choose numbers online.