Rotorua punters are lining up for Lotto tickets ahead of tonight's $20 million Powerball draw.
But experts warn you're more likely to be attacked by a shark than find riches on a Saturday night.
Lucky Lottery Shop manager Maree Callaway said the combination of a $20 million Lotto draw and Father's Day was bringing droves of customers into the shop.
"All day Saturday is full on [ahead of big jackpots]. Especially from 10am onwards, there's a line out the door for the rest of the day."
Staff were on a first name basis with regular customers, but many were coming from out of town.
"It's interesting because Big Wednesday is very high at the moment as well. It was $16 million [on Wednesday] night and it jackpotted to $17.5 million."
Whenever a winning ticket was sold, the shop attracted more hopefuls, Miss Callaway said.
Associate Professor of Statistics at the University of Auckland, Ross Ihaka, said the odds of winning tonight's $20 million windfall were 1 in 38 million.
"A comparable event would be if you tossed a coin 25 times and it came up heads every time."
To put that further into perspective, in the United States - which has most shark attacks worldwide - your chances of being attacked are 1 in 11.5 million.
But most people did not choose to focus on the negative, instead dreaming of all they could do with the winnings, he said.
"Most of us aren't thinking about that low probability."
In New Zealand, a tax-free $20 million could get you 12 houses in Auckland's Herne Bay - the country's most expensive suburb - or 78 average homes in Rotorua.
There was no way to play strategically, but choosing numbers no one else picked meant you wouldn't have to split the cash with other winners, Dr Ihaka said.
"I just get a lucky dip because then it's going to be random."
Platform Trust chief executive Marion Blake said many people saw playing Lotto as an acceptable form of gambling because some lottery money funded community organisations.
"I've heard a lot of people say, 'I'm going to buy a Lotto ticket but it's like donating to the community'."