Lotto host Sonia Gray has joined the Lotto buzz ahead of tonight's draw - the biggest yet recorded.

$40 million are on offer with Powerball and it must be won tonight, meaning stores up and down the country are inundated with customers hoping to win.

Eleven-year Lotto presenting veteran Sonia Gray was behind the counter selling tickets at West City Lotto in the Auckland suburb of Henderson..

Gray says thousands of tickets have been sold and she's been asked to kiss a few for good luck.

She says she's already bought her ticket. If she won she'd try to make a dent in Auckland's homelessness crisis by providing accommodation.