Do you know that the lottery in West Australia was started for a good charitable cause? The Lotteries Commission was established in 1932 to improve West Australians’ quality and living standards. It held its first lottery and distributed its first grants in March 1933.
The revenue spent on Lotterywest’s games is returned to players as prize money, operating costs, and retailer commission are covered. The balance of the money is returned to the Western Australian community. This amounts to 33 cents in every dollar spent on Lotterywest products being returned to Western Australia.
The state’s hospitals and health services, the Department of Sport and Recreation and the Department of Culture and the Arts are beneficiaries of Lotterywest funding as prescribed in the Lotteries Commission Act. It makes grants directly available to not-for-profit community groups and local government authorities for charitable and benevolent purposes. It also directly supports the annual Perth International Arts Festival and local screen funding body ScreenWest.
Historical fact
Over 75 years, Lotterywest has influenced the Lottery Commission’s grant decision-making. Its strength has been its ability to be innovative, flexible, and responsive quickly to community needs. The visual symbol representing the Lotteries Commission of Western Australia for almost sixty years was a woman holding a babe in her arms with a small child standing by her side, with the words ‘charity’ written beneath her.
The Commission’s understanding of its role within the Western Australian community, particularly using the proceeds from lottery games for community benefit, was exemplified by this traditional image of ‘Charity’ and the ‘mother of charity’. The use of such powerful imagery sought to unequivocally reassure the Western Australian community that, even though they were participating in a form of gambling, the central purpose of the Lotteries Commission of Western Australia was charity.
Games at Lotterywest
Lotterwest is the official state-owned and-run government lottery for Western Australia. It has over 550 retail outlets and sells lottery tickets and “instant win” Scratch’n’Win tickets through a network of newsagents and other authorised retailers. It sells national lottery games, including Saturday Lotto, Super66, OZ Lotto, Powerball, Soccer Pools, and Monday and Wednesday Lotto; it also administers the locally run Cash 3 game.
- Saturday Lotto- This Lotto game is drawn every Saturday night. The first six balls drawn from the Lotto barrel are the Winning Numbers, and the successive two balls drawn are the Supplementary Numbers. The more Winning Numbers you have in each game line on your ticket, the bigger the prize. The minimum entry for Saturday Lotto is four games.
- Monday and Wednesday Lotto- It is drawn every Monday and every Wednesday night. The first six balls drawn from the Lotto barrel are the Winning Numbers, and the next two are the Supplementary Numbers. The more Winning Numbers you have in each game line on your ticket, the bigger the prize. The minimum entry for Monday and Wednesday Lotto is four games.
- OZ Lotto- Drawn every Tuesday night and has the best odds of winning a prize in any game division of all Lotto games. The first seven balls drawn are the Winning Numbers, and the next two are the Supplementary Numbers. The more Winning Numbers you have in each game line on your ticket, the bigger the prize. The minimum entry for OZ Lotto is one game.
- Powerball – It has bigger jackpots more often and is drawn every Thursday night. The first six balls drawn from barrel A are the Winning Numbers. One ball is drawn from a Powerball barrel and is the Powerball. The minimum entry for Powerball is two games.
- Cash 3- It is drawn every night through the year. Three numbers are drawn from three separate numbers, between 0 and 9. Exact Order win – your three numbers match those drawn in the same order. Any Order win – your three numbers match those drawn but can be any order. Both Ways – play both of the above ways. The minimum entry for Cash 3 is one game.
- Soccer Pool -The outcome of soccer matches on the weekly match list determines the winning Numbers. The match list has 38 games each week, each assigned a number from 1 to 38. The six soccer matches that result in the highest drawn scores – for example, 3-3 or 4-4 – are the Winning Numbers. The seventh-highest drawn game becomes the Supplementary Number. The minimum entry for Soccer Pools is two games.
- Super66- Played every Saturday night for the chance to win up to $1 million. Six numbers are drawn from 0 to 9. The idea is to match your six numbers with the six Winning Numbers in the order drawn from the barrel from either left or right on each game you have played. The more numbers you match in order, the bigger your prize. You need at least two consecutive numbers on either end that match the Winning Numbers. The minimum entry for Super66 is one game.
Buying Ticket
You can buy tickets for Lotterywest Lotto games online at the website. You can also purchase tickets for Lotto and Scratch’n’Win games from retailers around Western Australia.
- To play online, register on the Lottery West website’s “Application for Registration” page and open an online account to make deposits and purchase entry tickets. You should be at least 16 years of age and a resident of Western Australia.
- Your identification will be verified through a third-party, approved electronic identification service: GreenID/Identity. As part of the registration process, you will be directed to the GreenID/Edentiti website, where identification checks are performed interactively.
- Once the verification process is complete and successful, you will receive an email with details of your temporary password to enable you to log in and complete your registration. If you do not complete the registration within 30 days, your registration details may be deleted from the system.
- Click the Play Online website’s ‘Register offline’ button to register offline. You will then be issued a Play Online application number, which you should note and record. You will then be required to download, complete and print the Application for Registration form on the website. You will have to then send the completed Application for a Registration form, together with two suitable forms of identification, to Lotterywest 74 Walters Drive, Osborne Park, WA, 6017 by post or Fax at 08 9340 5242 or by email: playonline@lotterywest.wa.gov.au
Player’s Card
- Lotterywest offers a Player’s Card to make it easy to receive any prizes you win, store your favourite numbers and provide you with some protection if you lose your ticket.
- With a Lotterywest Player’s Card, if you forget to check your numbers, your prizes will be automatically sent to you five weeks after the draw, provided they have not already been claimed.
- You can store your favourite numbers with your Player’s Card for each Lotto game, plus Soccer Pools and Cash 3. Hand your card along with a play slip to your Lotterywest retailer and let them know you want to record your favourite numbers with your card.
- Anytime you wish to change your favourite numbers, fill out a new play slip and ask your retailer to update your favourite numbers on your Player’s Card.
- You can fill out the application form at the website or retailer with a one-off $10 registration fee and identification proof for acquiring the Player’s card. You must be 16 or older to become a Lotterywest Player’s Card member and purchase any Lotterywest product.
- Although you can’t register a syndicate or group with your card, you can nominate a syndicate name to appear on the card.
- If you lose a ticket you have registered on your Player’s Card, contact Lotterywest customer services. If you lose your Player’s Card, call Lotterywest customer services, and you will be sent a new card.
Claim Your Prizes
- Your winning ticket is a bearer ticket.
- Prizes up to and including $500 can be collected from any official Lotterywest retailer.
- If you win a prize equal to or over $1,000, you will receive an email asking you to check your Play Online account. This does not apply to Division One prizes.
- Division One prizes and Scratch’n’Win top prizes must be claimed from Lotterywest during office hours. At Lotterywest address 74 Walters Drive, Osborne Park, WA 6017. For Division One prizes, a validation period ends 14 days after the draw.
- All other prizes can be claimed from Lotterywest or the payout centre at Doogues Newsagency, Murray Street Mall, Perth.
- Lotterywest offers EFTPOS to pay prizes up to $2000 if you present your EFTPOS card. Alternatively, all prizes can be paid via Direct Credit when you provide your BSB and account number.
- Doogues pay prizes over $500 via cheque.
- If you register your ticket on your Player’s Card, your prize will be sent to you automatically if you do not claim it within five weeks.
- Under the Lotteries Commission Act, 1990, prizes can only be claimed and paid for up to 12 months after the date of the draw, or in the case of Scratch’n’Win, up to 12 months after the last ticket of the game was issued by Lotterywest for sale. Unclaimed prizes are returned to the WA community through Lotterywest grants.
Lotto West Australia,Welcome to Land of Lottery – The West Australian http://t.co/C0tPXs3D
— John Curio (@johncurio) September 26, 2012