The numbers you need to know ahead of tonight's $27m Powerball draw

If you're thinking tonight's Powerball may be the answer to your financial woes, one number historically wins hands-down above all others.

For the second time this year Powerball is sitting on a whopping $27 million jackpot.

Lotto says stores are buzzing and ticket sales are strong ahead of tonight's draw but a flood of people are expected to hit outlets in the final few hours.

It's fair to say the 1 in 38,383,800 odds of winning are stacked against you but not impossible: one Thames couple smiled all the way to the bank when they struck the $27.3m jackpot in May.

Now history is on the verge of being repeated with Powerball sitting on a new mega total.

If struck it will become the fifth largest Powerball prize won in New Zealand.

NZH Graphic

According to Lotto data, one number has proved luckier than others over the past 968 draws.

Since 2001 the number '2' has topped the tower 123 times.

It's followed by "1", which has been drawn 113 times and "3", which has been drawn 112 times.

Meanwhile "9" and "10" score as the worst, being drawn 57 times or less.

Lotto spokeswoman Emilia Mazur said once Powerball soared over $20m more people bought tickets hoping to be in with a chance of winning.

The most popular ticket was the $20 Triple Dip.

If tonight's lottery was not struck the Powerball jackpot would roll over to Saturday, and rise to $30m.