$50m Lotto Powerball jackpot: Lotto says sorry for ticket checking delays

Saturday, 15 August 2020

The hunt is on for 10 newly made New Zealand millionaires.

Lotto New Zealand has apologised for millions of ticketholders not being able to check their numbers on Sunday.

The Lotto website’s ticket checking system was down and Lotto counters were not in operation on Sunday morning, meaning ticketholders could not check to see if they had won a share of the $50 million jackpot from Saturday’s draw.

Lotto NZ communications head Marie Winfield said the website and counters should be back in operation on Sunday afternoon.

“We don’t have an exact time yet as we are processing an unprecedented number of winning tickets, and this takes time,” she said.

Lotto is offline for checking tickets, but expects to be back Sunday afternoon.

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“We know New Zealanders will be excited to check their ticket after last night’s $50 million Must Be Won draw.

“Announcing the results of last night’s draw took us longer than usual – we’re really sorry to keep our players waiting.

“The delay was because of the sheer volume of tickets purchased for the draw, and the fact that we sold more online tickets than ever before.’’

Despite more than 2 million tickets being sold for Saturday’s draw, there were no First Division winners again, so the jackpot rolled down to Powerball Second Division, where 10 winners were found.

The 10 lucky Powerball players from around the country each won a $5m share of Saturday night’s mammoth $50m Powerball jackpot.

Winfield said they planned to upgrade their website and app early next year to deal with greater online ticket sales. Before the Covid-19 lockdown in March, 25 per cent of Lotto sales were online and 75 per cent were in-store, Winfield said.

For last night’s draw, about 40 per cent of sales were online.

“This is the most tickets we have ever sold online. This slowed down our processing significantly, and unfortunately led to delays.”

The winning tickets were sold in Auckland, Tauranga, Napier, Palmerston North and Invercargill.

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The winning numbers of the draw were: 8, 23, 27, 21, 12, 22. The bonus number was: 16. The Powerball number was: 1.

Each prize is made up of $5m from Powerball First Division and $7631 from Second Division.

Additionally, 10 more players are also celebrating after winning a $100,000 share of Lotto First Division. The winning tickets were sold in Auckland, Tauranga, Taupo, Carterton, Nelson, Canterbury and Wyndham.

Strike Four was also won last night by two players from Kerikeri and Auckland who each took home $300,000. The winning Strike tickets were sold at New World Kerikeri and on MyLotto to the Auckland player.

Fifty Lotto players won $16,368 each in the second division of Saturday night’s draw.

While winners around the country are celebrating following last night’s draw, New Zealand community groups are also set to see the benefit.

Winfield said Lotto generated essentials funding for Kiwi communities.

“It’s why we’re here. One hundred per cent of Lotto NZ’s profits support over 3000 good causes every year, so a massive thank you to everyone who bought a ticket – you’re helping to make a real difference in the lives of Kiwis around the country.”

Immediately following the draw on Saturday night, Lotto NZ announced it did not know when the country would find out how many tickets would split the massive $50m Powerball jackpot.

“Because of the delay our counters in-store will open late today. Customers who bought their ticket online will be unable to log into their account to check their ticket until [Sunday] afternoon – we don’t have an exact time yet as we are processing an unprecedented number of winning tickets, and this takes time. We will keep customers updated on our MyLotto website and app.”

If there are no First Division winners in a Must Be Won draw, the entire jackpot rolls down to the next division where there are winners – this is the seventh time Powerball has reached a Must Be Won draw with a jackpot of more than $30m.

You can read more about how a Must Be Won draw works here.