Kiwi punters are buying 2000 Lotto tickets a minute in a frenzied splurge ahead of Saturday night's $40m Powerball jackpot.

Lotto chief executive Wayne Pickup said they were due to have their biggest ever sales week, as New Zealanders dream of winning the big one.

"This is shaping up to be a record-breaking week for Lotto sales, with more than 2000 tickets currently being bought every single minute," Pickup said.

ALDEN WILLIAMS/FAIRFAX NZ Chinese tourists Clark Chen, 28, left, and Yan Ting Xu, 27, with the 26 tickets they purchased from Westfield Riccarton Lotto on Saturday.

"Whether customers are playing in-store or online, it's extremely busy."

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Millions of dollars worth of tickets were being scooped up in supermarkets petrol stations and kiosks up and down the country.

GEORGE HEARD/FAIRFAX NZ Lotto tickets are going like hotcakes at the Hamilton Mill Street Pak'n Save.

Hopeful punters queued for more than half an hour at Christchurch's luckiest Lotto shop, Riccarton Pak'n Save, including one couple who spent $741 on tickets.

Chinese travellers Clark Chen and Tan Ting Xu said they "must win" after buying 26 tickets at.

"We bought them for family", Chen said, divvying the tickets up into envelopes.

People had lined up at the Richmond Night 'n Day since 6.30am.

The couple, aged 27 and 28, said if they won the record-breaking $40 million Powerball, they would try to see more of "beautiful" New Zealand and the world.

Riccarton Pak 'n Save Lotto was the second luckiest shop in New Zealand, having sold 30 first division tickets.

"Our biggest was the $22.6 million Big Wednesday in September 2013, and I think people remember that," manager Lesley Berry said.

MATT STEWART/FAIRFAX NZ Lotto ticket buyers queue for tickets for the $40 million Powerball jackpot at Coastlands mall at Paraparaumu, north of Wellington.

"They've got their dreams and their hopes...my husband wants a Maserati."

In Hamilton, a first time Lotto player splashed out $502 on tickets as Lotto hysteria sweeps the country.

Sushi shop owner Vicky Hao bought the tickets at a kiosk inside the Pak'n Save supermarket in Mill Street, Hamilton.

KEVIN STENT/FAIRFAX NZ PAK 'n SAVE Hutt City Lotto shop sold a winning $7.5 million power ball ticket.

After a few seconds of indecision, she spent $502 - two dollars more than the amount she had budgeted for.

Hao said she was motivated to buy tickets after a close friend won $10,800 on Lotto a few weeks ago.

Despite being under no illusion about her chances of winning the top $40 million Powerball prize to be drawn on Saturday night, she swung into action.

But if she does win, she has a plan. Half of that $40 million would go to her parents and two sisters, who are still in China. and she would join them on travels around the world.

"As for my half, I would buy a new car, because my car is pretty old. I would buy a house for myself, because I am still renting and I can't afford to buy a home."

She would, however, keep working. She loves her job.

There were plenty of hopeful big spenders coming through, handing over their cash to staff manning the counter.

Hao, who runs a sushi store in downtown Hamilton, was far from the only one spending up large.

One of New Zealand's luckiest Lotto shops has sold ten thousand tickets this week as hysteria builds ahead of Saturday night's $40m draw.

Customers travelled to the Night 'n Day shop in Richmond, near Nelson, from all over the region, hoping to buy the winning ticket from the country's third luckiest Lotto store.

Owner David Smolenski said the shop was always busy, but the past two weeks had been particularly hectic, estimating 10,000 tickets had been sold this week.

A line of eager people from all over the region queued up to buy their tickets, hoping to add their names to the long list who have previously won the First Division at the store.

Every time someone left the store after purchasing a ticket they left with a hopeful faint smile.

He had been too busy to buy a ticket himself, but would make sure to pick one up before the draw on Saturday night.

Lenard Dillimore from Motueka said he thought the best way to win was to let the shop pick the numbers on his tickets.

He admitted the chance of winning was slim, but added that "you have to believe in it".

Another man in line came from D'Urville Island in the Marlborough Sounds to buy two $20 power ball tickets. He came to the Night 'n Day shop specifically because it was one of the luckiest in the country.

The queues were relentless at Lotto kiosks in Hamilton on Saturday.

The $40 million prize has to be won so if there are no First Division winners the jackpot rolls down to the next division where there are winners. If there is more than one winner in that division, the amount is shared evenly amongst all winners.

It's estimated the chances of winning the jackpot are 25 million to one.