Lotto Powerball: Jackpot fever strikes with $38m up for grabs

Lotto fever is growing around the country as the second biggest Powerball jackpot is up for grabs tonight.

If the $38 million prize is won tonight, it will sit second in history as the largest, after a Whangaparaoa couple took out $44m in 2016.

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

Although men - at 75 per cent - have been the luckiest of the sexes winning Powerball this year, it was a Taranaki woman who had taken out this year's biggest win of $22.3m.

More than 1.7 million tickets were expected to be sold for a chance to claim Wednesday night's draw, Lotto NZ said.

There were around 1.6 million tickets sold for Saturday's unclaimed $32m draw, the equivalent of each Aucklander buying one ticket.

A Lotto spokeswoman said as the size of each new jackpot was decided on ticket sales, it was too early to say what Saturday's Powerball prize could jump to if it wasn't struck tonight.

If it's not nabbed beforehand, the jackpot could extend to as much as $50m on the night of the Rugby World Cup final.

Meanwhile, the Dairy Flat Food Mart & Liquor store in Albany, which sold the winning $44m ticket in 2016, was still busy.

Saturday night'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 reached a must-win state, and while no one "struck 4", the money rolled down to Strike 3, giving 189 winners $5932 each.