Lottery officials expecting a rush ahead of $80m Powerball draw

An estimated one in three adults in Australia will have bought a ticket to tonight's $80 million Powerball draw.

The jackpot is the second highest in Powerball history, coming after a seven-week streak of nobody winning the big prize.

The Lott spokesman Matt Hart said they were expecting a mad dash towards the end of the day to get a ticket.

"Leading up to the draw close on Thursday evening, it is going to be frenetic in store and online as Aussies scramble to get their hands on a ticket," he said.

"The last time we had an $80 million draw, the sales peaked around 5pm on the day of the draw when more than 4200 entries were sold in 60 seconds."

Mr Hart urged players to register their entries.

The biggest Powerball prize was in January, with a Sydney woman taking home $107 million.

The odds of getting the seven winning numbers and the Powerball with a single game is 134 million to one.

Which means if everybody in Australia buys a ticket, odds are nobody will win tonight.