How many of you dream of becoming a millionaire? And the easiest way you look for is to ‘win a lottery’. A lottery is a form of gambling played to draw lots of prizes. New South Wales Lotteries Corporation Pty Ltd. operates lottery operations in Australia.
The company conducts and provides games through a network of retailers and offers online games. New South Wales Lotteries Corporation Pty Ltd. was formerly known as The State Lottery Office and changed its name to New South Wales Lotteries Corporation Pty Ltd. in January 1997.
Historical facts
The very first Australian lottery started in Sydney in the 1880s and was run as a privately operated sweepstakes. Prohibition eventually forced these lottery sweepstakes to move their base to Queensland, followed by Tasmania, and then into Victoria. The State Lottery Bill was introduced in 1930, and the 1931 Lotteries Act was announced.
In 1932, three lottery tickets were announced, costing one guinea each ($2.10), and a first prize of £20,000 ($40,000) was introduced to mark the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. In 1957, tickets for Opera House Lottery No.1 went on sale. Tickets were £5 each ($10), with a first prize of £100,000 ($200,000). In 1979, the first Lottery draw was held. In 1981, the NSW Lotteries Golden Jubilee was celebrated.
In 1988, draw lotteries went ‘online’; in 1989, NSW Lotteries began operating the Pools. After the Diamond Jubilee of 1991, Australia’s first national lotto game, OZ Lotto, came in 1994, followed by Lotto Strike in 1995. In 2000, Saturday Lotto was introduced, followed by Monday and Wednesday Lotto in 2004. In April 2010, Tatts Group acquired the 40-year exclusive operating licence for New South Wales (NSW) Lotteries.
NSW Lotto
On June 1, 2016, the NSW Lotteries brand became one of the four Tatts Group jurisdictional brands to be incorporated into a national lottery brand called ‘the Lott’. The other brands are Tatts Lottery, Golden Casket, and SA Lotteries.
NSW Lotteries runs some of its lotteries and syndicates; interstate lottery organisations run several others. The lotteries offered are:
Lotto Lotteries
Lotto is the most popular game and has been played for over 30 years.
Three weekly Lotto draws occur on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday evenings. Although NSW Lotteries markets the three identically, the Saturday Lotto draw is a national lottery run by Tatts Group Limited and syndicated by NSW Lotteries. It is known elsewhere in Australia as Tattslotto or Gold Lotto.
The Monday & Wednesday Lotto draws are run by NSW Lotteries and are available across Australia except Queensland. Although the draws are played identically, all requiring players to select six numbers from a possible 45, Saturday Lotto/Tattslotto is more expensive to enter due to its larger prize pool.
Lotto Prizes
According to the official site, Saturday Lotto offers an estimated Division 1 prize pool of $4 million every Saturday, plus regular Superdraws offering $20 million and over! Division 6, introduced in January 2011, delivers more prizes and excitement for Saturday Lotto. Monday and Wednesday Lotto offers a guaranteed $1 million Division 1 prize for up to four winners every Monday and Wednesday.
If there are more than four Division 1 winners, the $4 million prize is divided equally among the winners.
Lotto Play
For first-time players, QuickPicks are perfect because numbers are generated at random. They are in-game in sizes 6, 10, 12, 18, 24, 36, and 50, named mini to Maxi.
Players who are passionate about certain numbers can play Lotto Coupon. To mark your numbers on a coupon, you have to get a Lotto coupon at your local NSW Lotteries Outlet or select your numbers when you buy Lotto online and mark 6 numbers in each game panel, and you can play 4-18 game panels.
Players who wish to play more numbers per game for a greater chance of winning can play System Entry. Take a Lotto coupon at your local NSW Lotteries Outlet or select your numbers when you buy Lotto online, mark 7 – 20 numbers in each game panel and you can play 1 – 50 games on a QuickPick coupon or 1 – 18 games on a marked coupon. You can mark the “System/Pick” check box on your coupon or select the option when you buy Lotto online.
For playing a Pick entry, you can guarantee yourself either one or two of the winning numbers required to win the game (not available for Lucky or Strike Lotto). You can play a Pick entry with your favourite numbers on a marked coupon or as a QuickPick.
For a Pick 4 entry in Lotto Coupon, mark 4 numbers in each game panel (gives you 2 out of the 6 winning numbers); for a Pick 5 entry, mark 5 numbers in each game panel (gives you 1 out of the 6 winning numbers). You can play 1 – 50 games on a QuickPick coupon and can play 1 – 18 games on a marked coupon.
Mark the “System/Pick” check box on your coupon, or select this option when you buy Lotto online.
When playing a Standard, System or Pick Entry, if you have marked only a few game panels and want to play a bigger entry, all you have to do is ask for a Top Up. The remaining game panels are QuickPicked for you as standard games up to 6, 10, 12, 18, 24, 36 or 50 games. Just let your Retailer know how many games you want to top up to, or if you are purchasing online, you can select the ‘QuickPick row’ or ‘QuickPick un-filled games’ options to Top Up a Standard, System or Pick Entry.
And if you are going on holiday or out of town for work and don’t want to miss, look for a Multi-week entry. It allows you to play the same numbers in your favourite game for any number of draws up to 10 at a time.
Lotto Strike
Lotto Strike is an add-on game that can only be played when you buy an entry in a Lottery draw on Monday, Wednesday, or Saturday. It has a minimum prize of $100,000!
- To win a prize in Lotto Strike, in a single game panel, you must match the correct order that the winning numbers were drawn (e.g. 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th) in the corresponding Monday, Wednesday, or Saturday Lotto draw.
- Lotto Strike is a jackpotting game, so if there is no Division 1 winner, the jackpot is carried over to the next draw.
- Lotto Strike is drawn each Monday, Wednesday & Saturday night at approximately 7:30 pm (AEST).
Lucky Lotteries
Lucky Lotteries is a raffle-style jackpot game that guarantees over 10,000 prizes in every draw! Unlike other lottery games, each number is unique, so prizes are not shared.
There are two Lucky Lotteries games – Super Jackpot and Mega Jackpot.
Each game has a set number of numbers per draw, and once all available numbers are sold, the winning numbers are drawn using a random number generator.
Other Lotteries by NSW
The other lotteries you can play are Oz Lotto (run by Tatts Group and syndicated by NSW Lotteries); Powerball (run by Tatts Group and syndicated by NSW Lotteries); 6 from 38 Pools (run by South Australian Lotteries as ‘The Pools’; syndicated as ‘6 from 38 Pools’ by NSW Lotteries); Set For Life is a new NSW Lotteries game launched on August 3, 2015. NSW Lotteries also sells various scratchcard games under the brand ‘Instant Scratch-its’, where you can play and win instantly.
How to play NSW Lotteries?
There are many ways to play NSW Lotteries in Australia:
- You can play online on your PC or Laptop by visiting https://thelott.com/
- You can play with your mobile by downloading the app
- You can play at your nearest lottery retailer.
You can become a player club member and get a player club card linked to your online lottery account. You can use your card whenever you play, and if you win, you are informed, and your prize money is automatically transferred to your online bank account.
At Players Club, you can buy tickets online and store up to 50 sets of favourite games and numbers on your Players Club card. Present your card at your local NSW Lotteries Outlet and ask to play a favourite. You can record any marked coupon, view your ticket history, and have multi-year membership discounts. Most importantly, your prize is protected, and your account is secured.
To buy lottery tickets online, you must become a member, be 18 or over, and register yourself.
- First, register yourself; after registration, you can start buying immediately. Add your purchase to your cart, deposit money, and checkout. As a new member, your account will have some spending and withdrawal restrictions until your account is verified;
- Maximum Weekly Spend – $1,000
- Withdrawals (including prizes) – Disabled
It is a legal requirement that the age and identity of all members be verified within 90 days of joining.
- Login to your account and click the Verify Account button to complete your Identity Verification.
- If your age, residential address and identity cannot be verified within 90 days, your lotto account is closed.
How do I check lotto results?
- All the latest lotto draw results are found on nswlotteries.com.au
- Lotto draw results for Oz Lotto and Powerball are aired on 7TWO at approximately 8:30 pm (9:30 pm AEDT; please check your local TV guide). Oz Lotto draw results are televised on Tuesday nights.
- Powerball draw results are televised on Thursday nights.
- Draw results for Saturday Lotto and Monday & Wednesday Lotto are available at your local NSW Lotteries Outlet and online.
- Visit your local NSW Lotteries outlet and use the NSW Lotteries self-checking Ticket Checker to see if you have won a prize.
- You can call or SMS results phone lines to check the latest and historical results anytime.
- The latest results are called 1900 9 LOTTO (1900 956 886). (Calls made in Australia are charged at $A0.55c per minute. Higher rates apply to payphones, mobiles, or overseas callers. Provided by Salmat Digital. Helpline 1800 653 344. 1900 service not available for Instant Scratch-Its)
- SMS results service – SMS to 197 LOTTO (197 56 886) send an SMS to 197 LOTTO (197 56 886) including the game name (Monday Lotto, Wednesday Lotto, Saturday Lotto, Strike, Pools, Powerball, OZ Lotto). (Cost is A$0.75c per SMS. Provided by Salmat Digital. Helpline 1800 653 344. SMS service is not available for Lucky Lotteries)
- Many newspapers, radio stations and television stations publish the results as a service to their local community following each draw.
- Check your ticket for the draw date and refer to the major prize results poster or the results list in the results folder displayed at NSW Lotteries outlets.
- Sign up to receive the latest results via email via the NSW Lotteries website.
- Play with a Players Club card, and you will be informed if you win a first-division prize. The lottery terminal will also let you know if you have any unclaimed prizes every time your card is scanned in-store.
- If you forget to claim a prize (excluding first division and Jackpot prizes for Lucky Lotteries), you will automatically get a cheque or free ticket certificate containing the new ticket entry details three to four weeks after the draw for prizes over $1,000 and up to $10,000. Unclaimed prizes of $1,000 or less and prizes over $10,000 are automatically paid by cheque eight weeks after the last draw on the ticket.
- Click here to learn more about NSW Lotteries.
- Call 131 868 to seek any help.