Lotto shops predict 'bedlam' for $30 million jackpot (+video)

With the Lotto Powerball jackpot sitting at a cool $30 million tonight there was no way Pam Webb was going to miss out on a ticket.

"I live in hope one day I'll win...you always think it's going to be the lucky one."

The Lynmore resident said if she did win she would have a holiday, help her children out and visit her grandchildren in Sydney and Korea.

Mrs Webb said she always bought a ticket, usually from City Books and Lotto on Tutanekai St.

The store's owner manager Kirsty Evans said there had been a steady stream of customers buying tickets since Sunday but not as many as may have been anticipated with the huge amount at stake.

She said it would be "bedlam" at the shop today.

"It's amazing how many people leave it until between 5pm and 7pm on a Saturday night."

Both herself and assistant manager Raeleen Evans had already bought their tickets in the hopes of winning.

More than $86 million in First Division prizes have been shared by 98 First Division winners in Rotorua since Lotto started in 1987, including three Powerball First Division prizes.

The largest Powerball prize won in Rotorua was sold at Springfield Superette and Lotto in June 2015, when a local family won $24.3 million with Powerball First Division.

Kulwant Singh, owner of the Lucky Lottery Shop, said "definitely" more people than normal had been coming into the shop.

"Today (Saturday) will be our busiest day, there'll be big queues."

Lucky Lottery Shop customer Laura Atkins of Pukehangi said she only bought a Lotto ticket once in a blue moon.

"If I won I'd help out my family with they want to do and I'd change career path, though I think winning that amount would be daunting. I'd only tell my immediate family and close friends."