Lotto: Anxious wait for would-be millionaires

Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly

Seven first-division winners of last night's $50 million Powerball draw will be $7.18 million richer today, whether they know it yet or not.

The MyLotto app will open later than usual this morning, at 10am, to handle the huge volume of people checking to see if they have become an overnight multimillionaire.

The regions and stores where the winning tickets were purchased will not be released until midday.

Just under 2 million tickets were sold for the much anticipated, must-be-won draw - far more than usual, Lotto NZ says.

Head of communications Lucy Fullarton said big winners often share the wealth with family, friends, charities and their communities, and their lives will be changed.

"It means something different for everyone, and I think all of our winners have their things they come into our winners' room talking about.

"But what we see more than ever is that they want to use it to support their whanau and their friends and their communities, and I expect that will be exactly the same for these seven winners."

The numbers drawn were 22, 35, 10, 30, 21, 37, bonus ball 5 and Powerball, 2.

Once again, no one got the first division plus Powerball, so the record-equalling jackpot was shared amongst division two.

"It's amazing that Powerball rolled down to second division and was shared between seven players - it's fantastic to see more of our lucky players get to experience what it's like to win," Lotto NZ chief executive Jason Delamore said.

Fourteen other players won $71,429 through Lotto First Division and one person took home $600,000 through Strike Four.

Delamere said the big winners should phone Lotto NZ's Customer Services team on 0800 695 6886 "to ensure they receive the support they'll need throughout this life-changing experience".

The biggest single winner in Lotto's history took home $44m in 2016.