Gisborne Ticket Wins $28.25 Million Powerball
The streak is over. After eleven straight draws without a Powerball Division 1 winner, Saturday night's draw 2618 produced one — and it came from Gisborne.
I've been tracking this rollover run since it started on 29 July with a $4 million jackpot. Eleven draws later it had climbed to $28.25 million, and on Saturday 5 September someone finally matched all six Lotto numbers plus the Powerball.
The numbers
| Game | Numbers |
|---|---|
| Lotto | 3, 34, 14, 16, 31, 23 |
| Bonus ball | 33 |
| Powerball | 7 |
| Strike | 3, 34, 14, 16 (exact order) |
What it paid
| Division | Winners | Prize each |
|---|---|---|
| Powerball Div 1 | 1 | $28,250,000 |
| Lotto Div 1 | 4 | $250,000 |
| Lotto Div 2 | 20 | $20,945 |
| Strike Div 1 | 1 | $400,000 |
The Powerball prize is made up of $28 million from Powerball Division 1 plus $250,000 from Lotto Division 1 — which is why four players took home a quarter-million each, but only one of them also holds the big ticket.
The winning Powerball ticket was sold at Grant Bros Homeware & Gifts in Gisborne. The three other Lotto Division 1 tickets came from players in Auckland, Northland and Thames-Coromandel. One Lotto Division 2 player also matched the Powerball, lifting their payout from $20,945 to $50,419.
How the jackpot got there
This is what the run looked like from where I sit with the data:
| Draw | Date | Powerball jackpot | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2607 | 29 Jul | $4 million | No winner |
| 2612 | 15 Aug | $12 million | No winner |
| 2615 | 26 Aug | $20 million | No winner |
| 2616 | 29 Aug | $23 million | No winner |
| 2617 | 2 Sep | $25 million | No winner |
| 2618 | 5 Sep | $28.25 million | 1 winner |
Eleven consecutive draws without a Division 1 winner broke the previous 2026 record of nine, set back in May. That run ended at $28.2 million when a single Ashburton ticket won on 3 June — so Saturday's prize sits right alongside it as the biggest single win of the year.
Where this fits in 2026
Twelve Powerball Division 1 prizes have now been struck this year:
| Date | Winners | Prize each |
|---|---|---|
| 14 Jan | 1 | $10,200,000 |
| 21 Jan | 1 | $5,333,333 |
| 14 Feb | 3 | $5,083,333 |
| 18 Feb | 1 | $4,500,000 |
| 28 Mar | 2 | $12,750,000 |
| 15 Apr | 1 | $14,333,333 |
| 22 Apr | 1 | $5,500,000 |
| 3 Jun | 1 | $28,200,000 |
| 6 Jun | 1 | $4,500,000 |
| 25 Jul | 2 | $20,111,111 |
| 5 Sep | 1 | $28,250,000 |
The year's biggest advertised jackpot was the $40 million struck on 25 July and split two ways. Saturday's win is the largest amount to land in one person's account.
One thing worth knowing
This win came with a deadline attached to the format, not the ticket. Saturday 12 September is the final draw under the current 10-ball Powerball game, and it's a Must Be Won draw — if nobody matches Division 1, the jackpot is shared among the next division down that has winners. From 13 September the Powerball pool grows from 10 balls to 14, and Division 1 odds go from 1 in 38.4 million to 1 in 53.7 million per line.
I've written up the full detail of those changes separately, because they're the biggest shift to the game in nearly two decades.
Whoever holds that Gisborne ticket has twelve months to claim it. Lotto NZ asks winners to sign the back of the ticket and get in touch straight away — in store, through MyLotto, or by phone.
As always: the odds of hitting Powerball Division 1 were 1 in 38,383,800 per line under the old 10-ball pool (1 in 53.7 million since September 2026), and every draw is independent. Nothing about Saturday's numbers makes Sunday's numbers any more or less likely.
Fancy your own set of numbers?
I'll pick 30 fresh lines for the next draw — hot, balanced and wild card.