To win the NZ Powerball jackpot, a ticket holder must match the six main Lotto numbers and Powerball number drawn. In the event that there is no jackpot winner, the New Zealand Powerball jackpot will roll to the next draw.
Once a threshold of $50 million is reached, a special 'Must Be Won' draw is held where, if there is still no jackpot winner, the jackpot prize will roll down and be distributed between players in the next winning prize tier.
The biggest New Zealand Powerball jackpot wins are as follows:
The jackpot reached $50 million for the first time in February 2020. Two players matched all the numbers in the Must Be Won draw to split the record amount. Both of the winning tickets belonged to participants from Auckland. One had played online, while the other was a mother from Hawke’s Bay who bought her ticket at Countdown Manukau City Mall. She said when she came forward that she had found it difficult to sleep as she had mostly been scouring the internet for her dream car and places to visit.
A Must Be Won draw had to be held after the jackpot reached $50 million, but nobody was able to match all the numbers. This meant the money had to roll down and was instead split between the seven players in the prize tier below. The winners, who each received $7.1 million each, bought their tickets from a variety of locations across New Zealand, including a couple that had played online.
Powerball's second ever $50 million Must Be Won draw took place in August 2020 but there were no First Division winners, despite the fact that more than two million tickets were sold for the draw. Consequently, the entire $50 million jackpot rolled down to winners in Division Two, with ten lucky ticket holders taking home $5 million each.
This might not rank as the largest jackpot ever seen in New Zealand, but it produced the biggest single payout as one lucky ticket matched all the numbers, landing a family from Auckland $44.67 million. They had played 10 lines of the same Lotto numbers, each with a different Powerball (1 through 10).
Having played Lotto since it started in 1987, they were left in ‘complete shock’ when they discovered the big win. Speaking about their plans for the future, they said they would now all be able to own their own homes, while a family holiday was also in order.
Before the jackpot was capped at $50 million, this Must Be Won draw created the largest prize ever seen on New Zealand Powerball. One lucky couple from the city of Dairy Flat, north of Auckland, pocketed $44 million to become the game’s biggest winners on a single ticket. They revealed that they were looking forward to buying their first home and would continue to work.
After 16 draws without a winner, a single player matched all the numbers to pocket more than $42 million. The ticket was purchased at Countdown Pōkeno in Waikato and belonged to a local family, who opted to remain anonymous. They said it felt ‘unreal’, while they would use the money to help the children and support the community.
Two tickets shared this gigantic jackpot, which came after 16 draws without a winner. Both winners were based in Auckland and bought their tickets online. One of them revealed that she only entered the draw two minutes before sales closed.
The jackpot was shared between two ticket holders. One ticket was sold at Fresh Choice supermarket in Greytown and the other ticket was sold at the New World store in Warkworth. The Warkworth winner has chosen to remain anonymous.
A syndicate of four family members from Masterton won the $36 million jackpot. The syndicate, calling themselves ‘Irish Luck’, managed to scoop the first and second division prizes.
Two tickets shared this record jackpot. One winning ticket was purchased in Dannevirke and the other in Hamilton.
New Zealand Powerball jackpots are paid in a tax free lump sum and winners have the option to remain anonymous.
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