Do you ever think about what you would do if you won the lottery? Lotto NZ offers a variety of lottery games for you to choose from, such as Lotto, Keno, Powerball, and Strike.
Lotto is one of the more popular games offered by Lotto NZ. Winners are chosen twice per week, on Wednesdays at 20:20 and on Saturdays at 20:00 local time. To enter, a minimum purchase of four lines is required. At $0.60 per line, a ticket price entry fee is $2.40.
Playing is simple. All you have to do is choose six numbers between 1 and 40 for each line. Since you need at least four lines to enter, you will choose six numbers between 1 and 40 at least 4 different times.
For each line, you can either choose the six numbers yourself, or with the Lucky Dip option, the six numbers are auto-generated for you. If you choose to use the Lucky Dip option, the numbers are randomly generated in sets of 4, 8, 12, 16 or 20 lines.
Powerball and Strike are lottery games that can supplement Lotto. While you do have to pay a little bit more to enter, the payout is also larger.
Powerball is a lottery game that adds another layer and makes Lotto even more exciting. To play Powerball, you choose one number between 1 and 10 for each of the lines. You do have to pay a little bit more to enter the Powerball, but the payout will also be bigger if the Powerball number is matched alongside the six main numbers.
Strike is an additional $1.00 per line. In Strike, you choose four numbers per line and try to match any of the first four Lotto balls in the order that they are drawn. There are secondary prizes available to those who match two or three numbers as well.
The Lotto jackpot is $1 million, but if you also play Powerball and Strike, the prize can reach up to $4 million, and even all the way up to $50 million!
When calculating all of the possible prizes at various tiers and including the supplemental lottery games on top of the basic Lotto, the odds of winning the six-number Lotto game are 1 in 3,838.380.
Prize category | Numbers matched | Winning odds | Winning odds % |
1 | 6, plus Bonus Ball | Undisclosed | Undisclosed |
2 | 6 | 1 in 3,838,380 | 0.00003 |
3 | 5, plus Bonus Ball | 1 in 639,730 | 0.0001 |
4 | 5 | 1 in 19,386 | 0.005 |
5 | 4, plus Bonus Ball | 1 in 7,754 | 0.01 |
6 | 4 | 1 in 485 | 0.2 |
7 | 3, plus Bonus Ball | 1 in 363 | 0.27 |
8 | 3 | 1 in 35 | 2.86 |
Players have up to one year to claim prizes, which are paid out as lump sums only.
In New Zealand, lottery prizes are tax free, but if you are playing in the New Zealand lottery and live overseas, please make sure to check your local tax laws to find out if winnings need to be declared at home.
You must be 18 years of age or older to play in any of the New Zealand Lottery games.
Tickets are available across New Zealand in authorised lottery retailers. You can also buy a Lotto ticket online at the official Lotto NZ website or by downloading the mobile app.
If you are a player from overseas, you can enter Lotto via Lottery Agent websites.
The first New Zealand Lotto draw was on August 1st, 1987. Originally, there was only one draw per week. In 2015, the second draw was added, which happens every Wednesday.
Strike was introduced in April 1993, and Powerball began in February 2001.
All lottery games in New Zealand are operated by the New Zealand Lotteries Commission.