Tonight's $30m Lotto prize has gone unclaimed and will jackpot even higher.
Five lucky players split $1 million - but the growing Powerball prize remains up for grabs this Saturday.
The numbers are: 25, 35, 12, 31, 24, 16, the bonus ball was 1, and Powerball was 9.
Earlier, heavy traffic to the My Lotto website just before tonight's $30m draw was causing trouble for punters checking into see if they've struck gold.
A banner on the My Lotto website is warning of potential problem accessing the site.
"We're sorry – due to the high jackpot we have more visitors to our website than normal. If you have trouble accessing the site, please try again later," a message on the website says.
New Zealand's biggest Lotto win was $44m, won by a young Hibiscus Coast couple in November 2016.
The next-highest were $33m won by a self-proclaimed "westie" in September 2013, and $33m won by a 10-person syndicate in Taupō in September 2017.
Lotto said South Island gamblers were on a winning streak in the first seven weeks of this year, winning five big prizes following on from a $17.1m Powerball win by a Twizel punter just after Christmas.
The Twizel winner waited several days before claiming his or her winnings and said in a statement last month: "This is going to change our lives - what an amazing way to start the year."
The big jackpots in recent years have lured New Zealanders into gambling much more on Lotto, pushing Lotto turnover up by 40 per cent from $894m in 2014-15 to $1.25 billion in 2017-18, the latest data available.
About 55 per cent of the amount gambled in 2018-19 was paid out in prizes. Taxes took another 11 per cent, retailer commissions and operating costs took 6 per cent each, and 22 per cent ($261m) was distributed to community groups such as charities, sports and the arts.
