$32 million

Lotto’s third largest jackpot in history

Lotto outlets are bracing for a surge in ticket sales before a monster $32 million Powerball jackpot on Saturday night.

If won by a single ticket, the prize would be the third largest in Lotto history.

The money jackpotted after Wednesday night’s $28m Powerball prize wasn’t struck.

Lotto’s website crashed after the draw as scores of people tried to check their tickets, hoping they were multimillionaires.

About one million tickets were sold for Wednesday’s draw but Lotto expects about 1.5m to be sold for Saturday’s night’s Powerball jackpot. Lotto NZ spokeswoman Kirsten Robinson urged customers to get in early to avoid a last-minute dash. “We know that the last couple of hours before a draw are the busiest time for sales both in-store and online. Lotto NZ recommends that players get their ticket early to miss the lastminute queues.”

Many Lotto players were left in the lurch on Wednesday after the MyLotto website imploded because of the high demand.

About a million people bought tickets for the $28m Powerball draw, almost 2.5 times the number for a normal draw.

Robinson said the massive demand from customers checking their tickets caused MyLotto to cut out. “We’re sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.” Hundreds of customers took to Twitter and Facebook to vent their frustrations. “Can’t even check results and already told no one’s won. Thanks Lotto for killing the moment,” one player said.