Lotto Powerball Jackpot Hits $40 Million for Saturday Night Draw

Historical Ranking and Record Wins

If a single ticket holder wins the $40 million jackpot, the prize would rank as the fourth biggest win in Lotto NZ’s history. The largest win by a single ticket was $44.67 million, won by an Auckland player in August 2024. Other top individual wins include $44.06 million in Auckland in November 2016 and $42.2 million won by a player in Pōkeno in October 2021.

While the $40 million figure is high for an individual win, the biggest overall jackpot was $55 million in 2025. In that instance, three players shared the prize, receiving almost $18.4 million each.

2026 Winning Trends

So far in 2026, 11 people have hit the Powerball jackpot. Other milestones for the year include 27 people becoming Lotto millionaires and 184 prizes exceeding $100,000. The largest Powerball win of 2026 occurred in June, when an Ashburton family won $28.6 million, marking the 11th largest win ever. Earlier in the year, the biggest Powerball winner was a MyLotto player in New Plymouth who won $14.3 million in April.

Recent draws have also seen smaller First Division wins. In a previous Saturday live draw, an Auckland player won a sole $1 million Lotto First Division prize. On a more recent Wednesday draw, three ticket holders each won just over $333,000 in the First Division, while a single Strike 4 winner won $400,000.

Rules, Odds, and Claiming Prizes

To claim the Powerball jackpot, a player must correctly select all six Lotto numbers and the Powerball number. Ticket sales close at 7.30pm on Saturday, and the draw will be broadcast live on TVNZ 1 at 8pm.

Lotto NZ has implemented a change to draw announcements where winning ticket locations are withheld until 11am the following morning. This is intended to give players more time to check their tickets before the locations are made public.

The process for claiming prizes varies by ticket type:

• MyLotto players: Can see wins immediately. Prizes of $1,000 or less are automatically credited to the account; prizes exceeding $1,000 require an online prize claim form.
• Physical ticket holders: Must visit a Lotto retailer to claim their prize.

Looking ahead, Lotto confirmed in March that a “matrix change” will take effect in the second half of 2026. The number of Powerballs in the machine will increase from 10 to 14, shifting the odds of winning Powerball Division 1 from approximately 1 in 38.4 million to about 1 in 53.7 million per line. This change is expected to make jackpots more likely to roll over, though ticket prices will remain the same.

Strategy and Advice for Winners

Regarding player strategies, Will Hine stated that all numbers have the same number of chances of coming out of the machine and described the games as games of chance. Data from 2025 showed that 39% of players selected their own numbers, while 61% used a random Lotto family ‘dip’.

For those who do win, Lotto NZ suggests a management plan including immediate steps and goals for one month, three months, six months, and one year. Their advice includes:

• Considering privacy and typically telling only immediate family.
• Seeking professional advice.
• Securing winnings in an interest-earning account before making major decisions.
• Thinking first about how to use the money and identifying personal values.