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Lotto NZ chief executive Jason Delamore has revealed big changes to Lotto Powerball; including a rise in both the numbers of balls in the Powerball draw and an increase in the limit it's jackpot can go to. New Zealand Herald composite photo

'Keep the game up to speed': Lotto to make changes to prizes, number of winners

Author: Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date: Tue, 24 Mar 2026, 6:36pm

Lotto's ramping up its prizes and number of winners and lifting the biggest win from $50 million to $60 million.

It's adding another four Powerballs - which reduces the odds of winning Division One from one in more than 38 million, to about one in almost 54 million.

Chief executive Jason Delamore says many things have changed since the last change-up to offerings 19 years ago.

"Our population's actually increased by over a million people, so it's very normal for lotteries to tune the Powerball in their lottery games, in keeping with the population."

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