Lotto Powerball jackpots to $38 million

Powerball was not struck tonight and has rolled over to Wednesday night, where the jackpot will be $38 million.

It will be the second-equal largest Lotto payout if the prize is won.

The biggest Powerball prize, $44 million, was won by a Whangaparoa couple in 2016.

In November 2017, $38 million was shared between two ticket holders in Greytown and Warkworth.

Tonight's biggest winners were the six tickets sharing first division's $1 million - each now worth $166,667.

Those tickets were bought at Northcross Pricecutter & Lotto and at Countdown Three Kings in Auckland, Whitcoulls Chartwell in Hamilton, Countdown Levin, Waterloo Lotto and Giftshop in Lower Hutt, and at Redcliffs New World in Christchurch.

Strike tonight had reached a must-win state, and while nobody "struck 4", the money rolles down to Strike 3, giving 189 winners $5932 each.

Tonight's winning numbers were 19, 23, 25, 27, 30, and 40. The bonus ball was 37, and Powerball was number 1 - the third most-frequently drawn Powerball number.

Lotto predicted about 1.5 million tickets were sold for tonight's massive Powerball jackpot after Wednesday's $28 million prize wasn't struck. The prize pot rolled over to tonight's draw, at a whopping $32 million.

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Following Wednesday's draw, Lotto's website crashed as a barrage of hopeful Kiwis tried to check their tickets, dreaming of becoming multimillionaires.

Around a million people bought tickets for the $28m Powerball draw, almost 2.5 times the number for a normal draw.

Lotto NZ spokeswoman Kirsten Robinson said the jackpot would undoubtedly transform the winner's life.

"Saturday's $32 million Powerball jackpot is one of the largest in New Zealand history," Robinson said.

"If a single player is lucky enough to win big on Saturday, they'll be taking home the third-largest Powerball prize ever won in New Zealand – it's absolutely life-changing."

A $1 million Strike must-be-won draw was also drawn tonight.

Lotto lovers were speculating that Powerball could jackpot to as much as $50m - and be on offer around the same time as the Rugby World Cup final.

Robinson confirmed the maximum pot the jackpot could swell to was $50m.

This year, 31 Kiwis became overnight millionaires after winning Lotto games, including 12 who have won big with Powerball.

In total, 906 Kiwis have become overnight millionaires with Lotto since it was established in 1987.

Meanwhile, in order of frequency, the luckiest number Lotto numbers have been 1, 7, 19, 22, 18 and 13.