New Zealand’s biggest lottery game is shortly going to start to look pretty different. That’s because, from the 13th of September, Lotto NZ will add 4 new Power Balls to the draw machine while also introducing a new Power Ball Division 8. A change, it says, “will deliver more winners and bigger prizes.”
Now, in practical terms, expanding the Power Ball pool and adding new balls reshapes the odds because a bigger barrel of Power Ball numbers, alongside a fresh lower division (which is designed to spread more small wins to more players), changes things quite a lot.
Lotto NZ has positioned the overhaul as a boost to both prize sizes and the number of tickets that end up winning in each draw, but players should have a quick look over the updated prize structure and odds when the changes do officially take place in September later this year.
News of the overhaul comes at the same time that Powerball is already making headlines around the country. In draw 2610 on Saturday, 8th August, the Powerball First Division was not won and has now rolled over to Wednesday, where the jackpot will be worth NZD. One lotto player did win NZ$1 million with Lotto First Division, while Strike Four also went unwon and rolled over to NZ$400,000.
Thankfully, there was still plenty of cash distributed to Kiwis around the country. 17 lotto players won NZ$16,047 each with Lotto Second Division, and four of those also landed Powerball 2nd Division, taking home NZ$20,517 each.
In keeping with a change introduced earlier this year, LottoNZ now publishes the winning numbers on draw night but holds back the winning store locations until the following morning, giving ticket holders a window to check their tickets before the details are made public.
The New York New Jersey Stadium will host the match between Spain and Argentina in the 2026 World Cup final. The final will be played on 19 July and will determine the winner of the first World Cup featuring 48 teams. According to the official FIFA preview, the final will kick off at 15:00 in […]
New Zealand’s Powerball jackpot has climbed to NZ$15 million for Wednesday night after Powerball First Division went unclaimed in Saturday’s 15 August draw. The draw did, however, manage to create two major winners: one Lotto First Division ticket won NZ$1 million, while a separate Strike Four ticket collected NZ$700,000. Lotto NZ also reported 18 Lotto […]
New Zealand’s long-awaited move to a regulated real-money iGaming environment finally has a concrete timeline. On the 30th June 2025, Brooke van Velden – the Minister of Internal Affairs – introduced the Online Casino Gambling Bill, a framework that would see up to 15 licenses auctioned off to operators. Strict harm-reduction measures and high taxes […]
Alex Smith