Lotto NZ expects more than a million tickets to be sold in the lead up to potentially the second-highest Powerball win of all time.
Last night's jackpot of $34 million has swelled to an incredible $38m for the Lotto NZ draw on Saturday night after it was not struck.
Around 1.3 million tickets were sold ahead of last night's draw.
If the prize on Saturday is won by a single ticket holder, it'll be the second-highest total win in Powerball's 19-year history.
The biggest Powerball prize of $44.1m went to a Hibiscus Coast couple in 2016.
While it's too early to tell how many tickets will sell ahead of Saturday's draw, one for the same amount of cash in October 2019 saw 1.6 million tickets bought.
A similar number was expected this weekend, Marie Winfield, Lotto NZ's head of communications and corporate social responsibility, said.
"We're expecting it to be really busy in-store and online so encourage people to buy their tickets early to avoid the last-minute rush," she said.
In February, 2.6 million tickets were sold for Lotto NZ's $50m must-be-won draw which was won by two separate ticket holders, each taking $25.1m.
Sales peaked on the night of the draw between 6pm and 7pm when a jaw-dropping 2500 tickets were sold every minute - 150,000 in one hour.
The first Lotto draw was held on August 1, 1987, and in the 33 years since then, 943 people have become millionaires after winning Lotto NZ games.
Powerball kicked off 13 years later, in 2001, and since its inception, a total of 191 Kiwis have experienced the life-changing moment of winning it.
There has been a total of 1981 draws since Lotto NZ started, with the six most frequently drawn numbers being 1, 7, 22, 19, 18, and 12.
Meanwhile, the most frequently drawn Powerball numbers have been 2, followed by 3, 6, 1, 5, 8, 4, 7, 10, and 9.
Organisers of the hīkoi mō te Tiriti promoted a switch from the general roll.