New Zealand Lotteries Commission

New Zealand Lotteries Commission
The NZ Lotteries logo
Agency overview
Formed	1986
Headquarters	Wellington Central, New Zealand
Agency executives	Judy Kirk, Chair Todd McLeay, Chief Executive
Key document	NZ Lotteries Annual Report 2010 [1]
Website
http://www.mylotto.co.nz

The New Zealand Lotteries Commission (NZ Lotteries) is a Crown entity that operates nation-wide lotteries in New Zealand. The oldest and most popular draw is the weekly Lotto which boasts a top prize pool of NZ$1 million. There are three other draws, Big Wednesday, the twice-daily Keno, and newly launched Bullseye, and a variety of scratchcards known as Instant Kiwi. Powerball and Lotto Strike are optional extras with every Lotto ticket, whilst the Winning Wheel game is free to all Lotto ticket purchasers.

Instant Kiwi may only be played by persons 18 years of age or older, under the Gambling Act 2003. Lotto/Daily Keno may be played by anyone.

Profits from the publicly regulated lotteries are passed to the New Zealand Lottery Grants Board to distribute as funding for recreation, arts, community projects and sports. Since its creation, NZ Lotteries has contributed more than $2.7 billion to the Lottery Grants Board. The New Zealand Film Commission, Creative New Zealand, and Sport and Recreation New Zealand (SPARC) are major recipients of lottery money.

History

The New Zealand Cabinet approved the creation of Lotto in February 1986, the necessary legislation passing through Parliament in April that year with a 47–20 vote. The New Zealand Lotteries Commission was established in June 1987 and the existing Golden Kiwi lottery came under the Commission's authority. The first Lotto draw, with a top prize of $359,808, was held on 1 August 1987.

Over time the range of games were expanded, with Instant Kiwi scratchcards introduced in 1989 (replacing Golden Kiwi), Lotto Strike in 1993, Keno in 1994, Powerball in 2001 and Big Wednesday in 2005. The Winning Wheel was introduced in 2004 as a free "second chance" for Lotto players.

Lotto has previously been worked into two game shows, "Telebingo" and "Risk". There were also "Extra Draws" on a few occasions in 1998.

Current games

All monetary values are in New Zealand dollars.

Lotto

The Lotto logo

Lotto is the most popular of the games with a televised draw on TV2 at 8 pm every Saturday night. The first tickets went on sale on 22 July 1987 and the first draw took place on 1 August 1987.

The televised draw is currently hosted by Kyllee King-Turner, Russell Harrison and Matt Lawry.

Main game

Lotto odds and prizes

Division	Matching numbers	Odds per line	Average Prize
1	6 numbers	1 in 3,838,380	$1,000,000
2	5 numbers and bonus ball	1 in 639,730	$19,384
3	5 numbers	1 in 19,386	$611
4	4 numbers and bonus ball	1 in 7,754	$58
5	4 numbers	1 in 485	$31
6	3 numbers and bonus ball	1 in 363	$23

In the main game of Lotto, six balls and one bonus ball are drawn from a machine containing 40 balls numbered 1 to 40. To win First Division (the top prize), one has to simply mark off all six numbers.

Players can buy Lotto tickets by selecting their own numbers using a coupon, or they can have the machine randomly generate their numbers by purchasing a Lotto Dip. Tickets cost $0.60 per line, with a minimum of four lines if playing with a coupon. The least expensive Lotto Dip is the Basic Lucky Dip, which costs $6.00 for ten lines.

The Lotto Division One prize may jackpot for four weeks, but the fifth week's draw becomes a "Must Be Won" draw: any unclaimed Division One prize is rolled down to the next lower division.^[1]

Changes since introduction

• Before August 2004, Lotto tickets cost $0.50 per line.
• In November 2002, some changes were made, all of which (except for the new-look logo and a separate division for four numbers plus the bonus) were withdrawn in August 2004. They were:
  • A Guaranteed Millionaire was drawn every week from the First Division winners (see below). This meant that Jackpots and Superdraws were out of the question for 21 months.
  • A second bonus ball was drawn.

Extra draws

In 1998, there were several Extra Draws during the year. They worked as follows:

• Every Lotto ticket purchased for the draw entered the Extra Draw for no extra charge.
• All the numbers had to match for a share of $1,000,000 cash.
  • The amount was $1,500,000 on one occasion, which came from an unclaimed ticket sold in Blenheim in October 1997 (this was known as the Blenheim Bonus.)

Guaranteed millionaires

Between November 2002 and August 2004, a millionaire was drawn every week from all the Division One winners. Sometimes, more than one millionaire was drawn.

The rest of the Division One prizes were done as follows:

• If there were between one and four left, they won $250,000 each.
• If there were between five and nine left, they won $150,000 each.
• If there were between 10 and 19 left, they won $100,000 each.
• If there were 20 or more left, they shared $300,000 between them.

However, if there was only one Division One winner to begin with, they automatically won the million, and if nobody matched all six numbers, which only happened once, the millionaire was selected from Division Two.

Lotto Strike

The Lotto Strike logo

Introduced 3 April 1993.

A Lotto player may, at a cost of $1, add to his ticket four Lotto Strike numbers. The objective is to match these numbers, in order, with the first four numbers of the Lotto draw.

The current minimum jackpot for the "Strike 4" prize is $100,000, and increases by that amount until won, or until the tenth draw without a winner.^[1]

Division	Requirements	Odds	Average Prize
Strike 4	Four Lotto Strike numbers matching the exact order of the first four Lotto numbers drawn	1 in 2,193,360	Jackpot
Strike 3	Three Lotto Strike numbers match the exact order of any three of the first four Lotto numbers drawn	1 in 15,232	$800
Strike 2	Two Lotto Strike numbers match the exact order of any two of the first four Lotto numbers drawn	1 in 274	$80
Strike 1	One Lotto Strike number matches one of the first four Lotto numbers drawn	1 in 10.8	A free line of Lotto Strike

Powerball

The Lotto Powerball logo

Lotto Powerball odds and prizes

Division	Matching Numbers	Odds per line	Average Prize
1	Lotto Division 1 and Powerball	1 in 38,383,800	$4,000,000 to $30,000,000
2	Lotto Division 2 and Powerball	1 in 6,397,300
3	Lotto Division 3 and Powerball	1 in 193,858
4	Lotto Division 4 and Powerball	1 in 77,543	$150
5	Lotto Division 5 and Powerball	1 in 4846	$70
6	Lotto Division 6 and Powerball	1 in 3635	$50

Introduced February 2001.

A line may be "enhanced" by the purchase of a Powerball number. If Powerball is played, a minimum of four Powerball numbers must be purchased per ticket, at the cost of $0.60 per line. The Powerball number is a number between 1 and 10, drawn from a separate machine from the main Lotto draw. If the winning Powerball number is on the same line as a winning line of Lotto, the ticket holder wins a share of the Powerball prize pool in addition to the prize won from the main Lotto draw.

To win first division Powerball, the winner must first win Lotto first division, and have the winning Powerball number on the same line. The prize for first division is very large: a minimum of $4 million, but with the chances of winning one-tenth of the odds of winning an equivalent prize in the main draw. Powerball First Division can jackpot to a maximum of $30 million. Once the limit is met or passed, a "Must Be Won" week must be held in which, if First Division is not won, the First Division jackpot must be split amongst the winners of the next highest division for which there are winners.

When introduced, the Powerball number was originally drawn from eight numbers, and the minimum prize was $1 million. The maximum jackpot, which initially was $14 million, was gradually raised to $30 million. In October 2007, Powerball was changed to ten numbers and the minimum prize was changed to $3 million. Finally, on 3 October 2010, the price per line was raised from $0.50 to $0.60, to cover the cost of the rise in GST from 12.5% to 15%, and to increase the minimum prize to $4 million.

Winning Wheel

Introduced August 2004.

Every Lotto ticket has a 16-digit Winning Wheel number (e.g. 123-45678901-20XX) which is the same as the ticket's serial number, except that the two digit checksum is replaced with XX for security reasons. Every draw, a serial number is drawn at random. The winner is awarded an all expenses paid trip to the studio in Wellington where they appear on the show and spin the eponymous wheel to determine their prize.

The two-metre diameter wheel has 30 segments, each segment carrying either a cash prize ranging from $100,000 to $1 million, or non-cash prizes such as cars, shopping sprees and a $500,000 house and land package.

If someone does not wish to appear on the Winning Wheel, they may nominate a person to spin the wheel on their behalf, or they may take the minimum guaranteed prize of $25,000.

Entry into the draw for the Winning Wheel is automatic for all Lotto and Lotto Powerball tickets. Lotto Strike tickets are excluded, as they have a serial number ending in 12XX, not 20XX.

Big Wednesday

Big Wednesday odds and prizes

Division	Matching numbers	Odds per Line	Average Prize
1	6 numbers and coin toss	1 in 16,290,120	$2 million + two luxury cars (minimum)
2	6 numbers (incorrect coin toss)	1 in 16,290,120	$700,000
3	5 numbers	1 in 34,808	$1000
4	4 numbers	1 in 733	$20
5	3 numbers	1 in 45	$4 bonus ticket

The Big Wednesday draw is televised on TV1 each Wednesday, at approximately 8:20 pm. Offering substantial non-cash prizes, such as luxury cars, atop a significant cash prize (minimum value of $2 million), it is marketed as an opportunity to win "the ultimate lifestyle". Lines are $1 each, with, like the main Lotto game, a minimum of four lines per ticket.

The mechanism of the draw is similar to Lotto, with players trying to correctly guess the six numbers drawn. However, there are 45 balls for Big Wednesday, not 40, and the game has the added feature of a coin toss; along with the numbers, players must predict heads or tails. A player matching all six numbers will only win the jackpot if s/he correctly guesses the outcome of this. The odds on winning the jackpot are 1 in 16,290,120. However, if s/he does not match the coin toss, s/he will win Second Division, which consists of a cash prize.

As with Lotto, players may also have their numbers selected for them by the machine by purchasing a Big Wednesday Dip. The Basic Big Wednesday Dip costs $6.00. Players may opt to select either heads, tails or random heads/tails. A popular option is a Big Wednesday Dip with both heads and tails, which produces two tickets with the same numbers, one ticket with heads on all line and one ticket with tails on all lines, ensuring that if the player matches all the numbers, they win both First and Second Division.

The Second Chance Draw is similar to the Winning Wheel in Lotto. A random serial number (like the Winning Wheel, except the number ends in 13XX) is selected for Big Wednesday tickets. Matching this will entitle the lucky ticket-holder to a prize of $25,000.

As with Powerball, Big Wednesday may jackpot until the total jackpot value reaches $30 million, in which event a Must Be Won draw will be held.

If there are multiple First Division winners for a Big Wednesday draw, the cash prize and value of non-cash prizes will be combined and divided among the winners. In some cases, at NZ Lotteries' discretion, the value of non-cash prizes may be paid by direct credit or cheque. For example, a winner under the age of 18 or a temporary resident in New Zealand is ineligible to claim a boat or car prize in kind.

Jackpot

The first draw consists of $2 million cash and two luxury cars. If that is not won, non-cash prizes are added to the jackpot for four weeks, after which case the cash prize increases.

As of September 2011, Big Wednesday jackpots as follows

Week	General prize	Current non-cash prizes
First week	$2 million cash Two luxury cars	Audi Q7 and Lamborghini Gallardo
Second week	+ Credit card	$50,000 Visa Platinum Card
Third week	+ Luxury travel	$50,000 of luxury travel
Fourth week	+ Boat	Rayglass 2200 Boat
Fifth week	+ House/Apartment/Bach	$675,000 cash towards a bach
Sixth week and subsequent weeks	+ Cash

Keno

The Keno logo

Following the format of the popular bingo hall game, Keno draws are made twice daily at 1 pm and 6 pm, and are televised on TV2 50 minutes after these times. Tickets cost between $1 and $100 per line, with a maximum prize of $1,000,000 available.

Bullseye

Lotto Bullseye odds and prizes

Division	Requirements	Odds per line	Average Prize
1	Bullseye number	1 in 1,000,000	$180,000
2	Number 1 to 5 either side of Bullseye number	1 in 100,000	$10,000
3	Number 6 to 50 either side of Bullseye number	1 in 11,111	$500
4	Number 51 to 500 either side of Bullseye number	1 in 1,111	$100
5	Number 501 to 5000 either side of Bullseye number	1 in 111	$25
6	Number 5001 to 50000 either side of Bullseye number	1 in 11	$2 bonus ticket

Bullseye is a daily lottery game, launched on 19 October 2009. The winning number is drawn at 6:00pm and results are available online and in-store at 7:00pm.

One selects a six-digit number between 000000 and 999999, or gets the Lotto terminal to randomly select a number, and the aim is to get as close as possible to the Bullseye number. Tickets are $2 each number for one day, and $10 for one number for 7 days. If one matches the Bullseye number exactly, they win first division and the top prize of a minimum $100,000. The first division jackpot has a maximum threshold of $400,000. If this threshold is reached, the next game will be a "must be won" draw; if no one wins the first division, the jackpot will go to the winners in the next highest division. Lesser prizes are won if one's number is up to 50,000 either side of the Bullseye, with prizes increasing in value as one's number gets closer to the Bullseye number. For the purposes of winning, the numbers are viewed as circular, with 999999 followed by 000000 (e.g. if the winning number was 975555, the winning range would be 925555 to 025555).

Instant Kiwi

The Instant Kiwi logo

Instant Kiwi is NZ Lotteries' series of scratchcards. Introduced in 1989 to replace the Golden Kiwi, Instant Kiwi has evolved over 21 years to its current format of four ticket groups and five price levels. It is the only NZ Lotteries game with a purchase age restriction and minor prize claim age restriction - it is illegal to sell Instant Kiwi tickets to those under 18 years of age.

From mid-2010, tickets are broken up into four major groups:

• Easy As: entry-level short play games
• Rapidfire: mid-level short play games
• Break Time: mid-level long play games
• Challenge: advanced-level long play games

There are five pricing levels, with the higher-priced levels having larger prices. The price-to-prize structure is same across all games.

• $1 tickets - maximum prize $10,000
• $2 tickets - maximum prize $20,000
• $3 tickets - maximum prize $40,000 or $50,000
• $5 tickets - maximum prize $75,000 or $100,000
• $10 tickets - maximum prize $250,000

Retired games

Telebingo

Telebingo ran from February 1996 to June 2001. There were two components, a lottery and a game show. The original timeslot was on TV ONE at 8 pm on a Wednesday, but later in its run, it was moved around. In late 1999, Telebingo was also re-aired at 3:30 pm the next day. The hosts were Simon Barnett and Ingrid Mole.

Lottery

Between 34 and 75 numbers were drawn from 75. Viewers at home had to match the numbers on-screen with numbers on a mini bingo board. These could be purchased at $2 each for a minimum of two tickets. There were three divisions:

• Four Corners: If you got each of the three corner numbers (the other was just a tick) before 27 numbers had been called, you won Four Corners.
• Cross: If you got the eight numbers that made a diagonal cross before 34 numbers had been called, you won Cross.
• Bingo. The big one – they keep drawing numbers until a Bingo winner has been found. If there was one before 34 numbers had been called, they kept going until 34 numbers were called. The record was 37 Bingo winners.

If there were no winners in a division, the respective prize pool was carried over to the next division.

Game show

Three contestants appeared on the show. They started with $125 and a corner square, they earned $25 and another corner square for every question right and lost $25 (but not their corner square) for every question wrong. At the Cross round, they were given two squares as a head-start towards Cross. After Cross was earned, random squares were given with every correct answer until either a viewer or a contestant got Bingo. There were two possible outcomes as to the end:

• If a contestant got Bingo first, they kept going until a viewer got Bingo, and then any contestants who got Bingo would come away with double their final total.
• If a viewer got Bingo first, it went to "Run For Your Money", in which the contestants had 60 seconds to get Bingo, and anyone who got it would come away with double their final total.

The contestant with the most money then went to a memory board, where he or she had to reveal two matching squares to get a certain prize, and then he or she had the option of taking away the prizes or risking them for more the next week.

Risk

Risk ran from July 2001 to February 2002. Draw numbers started from where Telebingo numbers left off. The show was on TV ONE in a more consistent time slot, at 7:30 pm on a Wednesday. The show was hosted by Jon Bridges.

Lottery

Twenty-five numbers from 1 to 90 were drawn. The objective was to match one of the following:

• The 12 numbers in Game 'R'
• The 9 numbers in Game 'S'
• The 6 numbers in Game 'K'
• The 3 numbers in Game 'I'

All panels except Game 'R' had one or more $ signs which could be marked off immediately. A number could appear on two panels on a single ticket.

The game-board looked like this: (the $ signs are only there to show how many there were)

X X X - - $ - -
X - - X - - - -
X X X - - X - -
X - X - - X - -
X - - X - X - -

- X X X X - $ -
X - - - X X - -
- X $ - $ - - -
- - - X X X - -
X X X - X - $ -

Game 'R' jackpotted if not won.

There was a team colour printed on each ticket. If that team won, then all tickets bearing that colour went into a draw for a cash prize.

Game show

Three teams of two contestants (namely Red, Yellow and Purple) were spotted $500 ($300 in the first few episodes) to begin the game with. Correct answers were worth $50, and incorrect answers were penalized by that amount. After two rounds, the team in third place was eliminated, and at the end of the last round, only one team prevailed.

Online sales

On 26 May 2008 the Commission launched MyLotto, an online sales channel providing an alternative to the traditional retail outlet for players of Lotto, Big Wednesday and Keno. Instant Kiwi products are not available on MyLotto. Players must register to use the service, and add funds to their account via internet banking or credit card before purchasing tickets. There is a maximum spending limit of $150 a week or $300 a month; players can choose a lower spending limit if they wish, and can block themselves from participation in any of the games. MyLotto operates between 6.30 am and 11 pm Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday, and between 6.30 am and midnight on Wednesday and Saturday. As with tickets purchased at retail outlets, players have the options of playing a Dip or selecting their own numbers. Additionally, players can save their favourite numbers for future use.

Claim of prizes

Bonus tickets and cash prizes up to and including $1000 can be claimed at any Lotto outlet by presenting and surrendering the ticket, and the prize is paid out from the terminal.

All non-cash prizes and cash prizes over $1000 can be claimed at any Lotto outlet by presenting and surrendering the ticket. The bearer must complete a Prize Claim form, which is sent along with the ticket to the New Zealand Lotteries Commission in Wellington for the claim of the prize.

Winners of large prizes often bypass the Lotto outlet and go straight to the Lotteries Commission headquarters in Wellington. Claiming prizes over $5000, as well as Winning Wheel, Second Chance draw and special draw prize cause the processing Lotto terminal to lock for safety reasons, and the terminal operator must call the Lotteries Commission to unlock the terminal, giving the commission a chance to talk to the winners.

Prizes must be claimed within 12 months of the draw (or close of the game for Instant Kiwi), otherwise the prize is void and the unclaimed money goes back into the prize pool.

Records

Largest prize

• The largest prize won by a single ticket was $36,890,255, in the Big Wednesday draw of 24 June 2009 (draw 192). The winning ticket was sold at the Kuripuni Lotto and Post Shop in Masterton. It consisted of a First Division prize of $34,453,401 cash, an Audi R8 (RRP $265,000), a Porsche Cayenne (RRP $135,000), $250,000 credit on an American Express Platinum Card, $250,000 cash towards luxury travel, a Four Winns V258 boat, and $750,000 cash towards a bach; plus a Second Division prize of $696,795 cash.^[2]
• The largest Lotto prize won by a single ticket was $28,710,403, in the Lotto draw of 16 October 2010 (draw 1219). The winning ticket was sold at Mobil Papakura. It consisted of a Powerball First Division prize of $28,309,882, and a Lotto First Division prize of $400,521.^[3]

Most tickets sold

• The greatest number of tickets sold for a draw was 4.78 million tickets for the aforementioned Big Wednesday draw of 24 June 2009 (draw 192). The First Division prize was originally a "must be won" $30 million plus prizes, but high ticket sales pushed this up to $35 million.^[2]
• The greatest number of tickets sold for a Lotto draw was 2.5 million tickets for the Lotto draw of 18 October 2008 (draw 1115). The Powerball First Division prize was a "must be won" $30 million, which, because of no First Division winners, was rolled down to five Second Division winners. Each winner received $6,146,881.

Most winners

• The record for the most First Division winners in one draw was set on 11 September 1993 (draw 320), when 38 people won First Division. Each winner received $35,937. The main contributing factor was all the winning numbers were between 31 and 38, with the bonus number the only number to fall outside the group (11).

See also

• Gambling in New Zealand

References

1. ^ ^{a b} New Zealand Lotteries Commission (2007). How to Play Lotto. Retrieved on 2010-02-10.
2. ^ ^{a b} "$36 million Big Wednesday Lotto win has Masterton buzzing - National News - tvnz.co.nz". 2009-06-25. http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/36m-win-has-masterton-buzzing-2803986. Retrieved 2010-07-24. 
3. ^ "Dad Claims $28m Lotto Prize - stuff.co.nz". 2010-10-20. http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/papakura-courier/4249686/Dad-claims-28m-Lotto-prize. Retrieved 2011-02-11. 

External links

• New Zealand Lotteries Commission
• Lotto Results