Do you remember when you were a kid, your school had a raffle game? The sole purpose was to collect some funds for a charitable cause. The tickets sold out helped the community in many ways. The prize may be big or small, but everybody feels good when they buy a raffle ticket. After all, they get to help a group they care for, and winning is always a real possibility. The cost of ticket printing and promotion is lower than the money made. Thus, Raffles is a time-tested fundraising method that seems to have always been a part of our culture.
Raffles have existed in some form since possibly the beginning of human civilization. Even before lotteries were invented or the first raffle tickets were printed, the Old Testament tells us that Moses used a lottery to award land West of the Jordan to his people.
The ancient Babylonians, Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans loved playing raffle-like games of chance, using dice or bones to cast lots and draw winners. Soon, these simple games of chance evolved into endeavours with real fundraising potential. Around 100 BCE, during the Hun Dynasty, the Chinese invented Keno, a form of lottery that is still popular today.
The money from Keno draws was used for defence and civic projects, including the construction of the Great Wall of China.
About Lucky Lotteries
Lucky Lotteries are just like Raffle games. It is the current brand name given to draw lotteries administered by Tattersalls after originally being administered by New South Wales Lotteries.
- Two lotteries run under this name: the $2 Jackpot Lottery and the $5 Jackpot Lottery. (Both denominations exclude agent’s commission.) Since March 2015, the lotteries have been available in Tattersalls jurisdictions.
- All tickets are “auto-picked” by the computer and are usually allocated sequentially, but those buying 10 numbers or less can select their numbers randomly. Tickets can be purchased up to 10 draws in advance for the $2 lottery and two draws for the $5 lottery.
- In recent years, the $2 Jackpot – which is statistically more difficult to win than the “6-from-45” Tattslotto-style games – has reached more than $10 million more than once through continued jackpotting.
- The highest jackpot win in the $2 Jackpot Lottery is $16,320,000, won on 6 October 2009.
- The highest jackpot win in the $5 Jackpot Lottery was 38.185 million won on 22 November 2011.
The Draws
- Draws are conducted soon after all tickets are sold at the NSW Lotteries offices, and prizes can be claimed the day after; summaries are often printed in major newspapers.
- For the $2 lottery, on average, one draw occurs each morning at the NSW Lotteries offices, sometimes more than one.
- The lesser demand for the $5 lottery means several weeks often passed between draws. Due to the delay between selling tickets and drawing them (particularly for the $2 lottery), a ticket purchased today may drawn several days from today; by that time, the jackpot amount advertised may have already been won by an earlier draw. NSW Lotteries now adds a disclaimer to this effect when advertising these lotteries.
- A first, second and third prize is drawn in each draw, and some smaller prizes are down to $10. One-off prizes are awarded to tickets with one ticket number on either side of each cash prize, with a $1,000 cash prize for being one-off first prize and several free tickets for an advance draw of the same lottery for being one-off any other cash prize. (Free tickets are always awarded as a sequential run of numbers.)
- A jackpot ticket number is then drawn separately from the main draw. A jackpot ticket can only be one of the previous tickets drawn, which means you must be drawn twice to win a jackpot prize. If the ticket number drawn matches a winning number exactly (one-offs do not count), they win the jackpot; otherwise, that number wins 10 free tickets for an advance draw and the jackpot increments by a certain amount.
- New South Wales Lotteries have also conducted some $10 draw lotteries. The most recent $10 lottery was called Lucky 7. It replaced the Million Dollar Lottery (a non-jackpotting draw lottery that was otherwise similar to the $2 and $5 games) in 1996 and continued until 2001. Each $10 ticket was entered for five consecutive weekly draws.
- Three separate numbers were drawn, named after the number of digits in each winning number: Lucky 7 (with numbers ranging from 1000000-1999999), Lucky 6 (100000-449999) and Lucky 3 (000-999). Prizes were awarded similarly to Super 66, with a $1 million prize for matching the Lucky 7 number exactly. In contrast, consolation prizes were awarded for matching the last digits of the other numbers – as few as three digits for the Lucky 6 or two digits for the Lucky 3 number.
Lucky Lottery Super Jackpot
Like a raffle, each Lucky Lotteries Super Jackpot has a set number of ticket numbers to sell (270,000). Once all are sold – i.e., the lottery has been fully subscribed – the draw for that particular lottery can occur. You may choose to be allocated randomly (to a maximum of 5) or sequential ticket numbers – but you can’t select your numbers. Each lottery has a jackpot prize, which continues to grow until it is won.
Due to the unpredictable timing of draws, the jackpot amount advertised may already have been won by the time your lottery is drawn. Still, the Lucky Lotteries Super Jackpot always has a guaranteed minimum jackpot of $500,000.
For this reason, it is impossible to guarantee that the draw or jackpot displayed on the front and play page will be the one the ticket will be bought in.
Things to Note
- Sales in Jackpot Lottery entries are final and cannot be cancelled.
- With Lucky Lotteries, you don’t have to share the prize if you win- including the jackpot! That’s because individual ticket numbers win individual prizes.
Whilst a jackpot can be worth millions of dollars, it is never worth less than $500,000 for the Lucky Lotteries Super Jackpot.
Each Lucky Lotteries Super Jackpot ticket number is drawn from the game’s complete ticket numbers. If that ticket number has already won a cash prize in the draw, it wins the jackpot. The jackpot increases for the next draw if the ticket number hasn’t won a cash prize. - Each Lucky Lotteries Super Jackpot has a unique, 4-digit sequential number to identify it.
- Fully subscribed lotteries are drawn in order, i.e., the fully subscribed lottery with the lowest number is drawn first.
- There are 11 x Lucky Lotteries Super Jackpots on sale at any time – the current lottery and 10 forward or future lotteries.
Prizes
- There are 270,000 tickets in each lottery.
- The odds are 1:24 of winning a prize. The odds of winning the jackpot is 1: 15,746,501
- If the jackpot is not won, it increases by $130,000 for each draw
- First prize is $100,000
- Second prize is $10,000
- Third prize is $5,000
- 2 prizes at $500 totalling $1,000,
10 prizes at $200 totalling $2,000,
20 prizes at $100, totalling $2,000,
100 prizes at $50, totalling $5,000,
600 prizes at $25, totalling $15,000,
750 prizes at $15, totalling $11,250,
2,480 prizes at $10, totalling $24,800 - 2 prizes at $1,000 for any ticket number, which is one off the first prize-winning ticket number totalling $2,000
- Of the 11,895 prizes, 3,967 win cash, and 7,928 win free tickets
Lucky Lotteries Mega Jackpot
Each Lucky Lotteries Mega Jackpot has a set number of ticket numbers to be sold (200,000). Once all are sold – i.e., the lottery has been fully subscribed – the draw for that particular lottery can take place. You may choose to be allocated either random (to a maximum of 5) or sequential ticket numbers – but you can’t select your numbers.
Due to the unpredictable timing of draws, the jackpot amount advertised may already have been won by the time your lottery is drawn. Still, the Lucky Lotteries Mega Jackpot always has a guaranteed minimum jackpot of $1,000,000.
For this reason, it is impossible to guarantee that the draw or jackpot displayed on the front and play page will be the one the ticket will be bought in.
Things to Note
- Sales in Jackpot Lottery entries are final and cannot be cancelled.
- A jackpot can be worth millions of dollars, but it is never worth less than $1,000,000 for the Lucky Lotteries Mega Jackpot.
- In each Lucky Lotteries Mega Jackpot draw, a ticket number is drawn from the complete set of ticket numbers in the ga. If that ticket number has already won a cash prize in the draw, it wins the jackpot. The jackpot increases for the next draw if it hasn’t won a cash prize.
- Each Lucky Lotteries Mega Jackpot has a unique, 3 digit sequential number to identify it.
- Fully subscribed lotteries are drawn in order, i.e., the fully subscribed lottery with the lowest number is drawn first.
- There are 3 x Lucky Lotteries Mega Jackpots on sale at any time – the current and 2 forward or future lotteries.
Prizes
- There are 200,000 tickets in each lottery
- The Odds are 1:16 of winning a prize
The odds of winning the jackpot is 1: 8,508,403 - If the jackpot is not won, it increases by $240,000 for each draw
- First prize is $200,000
- Second prize is $20,000
- Third prize is $5,000
- Five prizes at $1,000, totalling $5,000,
10 prizes at $500 totalling $5,000,
25 prizes at $100, totalling $2,500,
75 prizes at $75, totalling $5,625,
600 prizes at $40, totalling $24,000,
700 prizes at $20, totalling $14,000,
2,800 prizes at $12, totalling $33,600 - 2 prizes at $1,000 for any ticket number, which is one off the first prize-winning ticket number totalling $2,000
- Of the 12,654 winning tickets, 4,220 win cash, and 8,434 win free tickets
Buying Lucky Lottery Tickets
You can buy a lucky lottery ticket online by registering yourself online at nswlotteries.com.au at the same price you’d pay in-store. With a fast and easy registration process, you can deposit funds, choose the number of tickets, and make your entries online. You can also buy it at your local NSW Lotteries Outlet.
- You have to be 18+ and a resident of New South Wales resident. All members are required to confirm their age and identity before being able to withdraw funds from their accounts. You have 90 days to verify your account, which you can do quickly and easily online.
- Once you’ve registered, you’ll receive a welcome email with your member login details. You can also check your full transaction history online through your account.
- Buy a QuickPick in under 60 seconds if you have funds in your lotto account. Play favourites, and you can buy them all on a single page.
- You can transfer funds by BPay via your bank or ‘on the go’ with Visa or MasterCard through our secure payment gateway.
- If you win from an online purchase, you will be automatically informed. Your money will also be deposited directly into your lotto account.