Lotto Powerball $50 million: Time is ticking to buy $50m Powerball tickets

If you haven't already bought a Lotto ticket for tonight's $50 million Powerball draw, get cracking because time is ticking.

Powerball skyrocketed to the monstrous total - an all-time record high for Lotto in New Zealand - on Wednesday and the draw must be won.

Meanwhile, 2000 tickets were being sold every minute as of 3.30pm, Lotto reported.

And total ticket sales had topped the 2.3m mark by 6pm.

The close off to buy tickets for Lotto, Powerball and Strike was 7.30pm so you don't have a ticket, don't dawdle as you have to be in it to win it.

More than 2.5 million tickets were expected to be sold with more than 1.9m having already been bought by mid-afternoon.

"Sales are typically at their peak after 5pm, so the busiest time in-store and online is still to come," Lotto NZ's head of communications Marie Winfield said.

"Stores around the country are buzzing as Kiwis pick up a ticket to be part of Lotto NZ history – we're seeing queues out the door in some places."

A must be won draw is as simple as it sounds, it must be won.

If there were no First Division winners, the entire jackpot would roll down to the next division where there were winners.

And if there were multiple winners in a division, the total prize would be shared evenly among all of the winners.

In October, two separate Lotto winners from Auckland split a Powerball jackpot of $38m, each taking home $19.1m.

Two years ago, a record 40 individual ticket holders shared a First Division prize worth $1m.

If players haven't bought a ticket, it might be worth buying a dip instead of picking your own numbers.

Of the previous big Lotto winners, 73 per cent won with a dip ticket - not by selecting their own numbers.

Big Lotto winners recieve a secret book full with useful information. Photo / Supplied

The most commonly selected Lotto numbers, in order of frequency, over the past 32-odd years Lotto had been running were 1, 7, 22, 19, 13 and 18.

Meanwhile, the least commonly drawn numbers (worst first) were 28, 29, 34, 4, 3 and 11.

The most frequently drawn Powerball number, meanwhile, was the number 2, followed by 6, 3, 1, 5, 4, 8, 7, 10, 9.

After bagging the jackpot, winners are required to head over to Lotto's head office in Auckland, where they are then taken to a special room.

Stocked with champagne, chocolate and even tissues for the emotional types, winners also receive a book full of handy tips.

"The decision about what you do with your winnings is entirely yours - you will shape your future," the 60-page book states.

"We hope this booklet helps you to understand the steps ahead of you, make your goals easier to reach and, of course, enjoy your winnings!

"We wish you all the best for the future, and hope you'll look back on the day you found out you were a winner as one of the happiest days of your life."

Previous winners' advice

• Think before you spend: It's best to spend some time to think about your win and what you really want to do with the money before you start forking out;

• Secrecy: Be really careful who you decide to tell about your good fortune;

• Financial advice: Getting help from a professional, they know what they're up to;

• Have fun: It's important to remember to take time to do the things you've always wanted to do for fun, once you've locked in funds for the future.