Australia’s lotteries can rival the Mega Millions, EuroMillions, and US Powerball in plenty of ways. The lotteries Down Under are up with various games and surprises to offer. To name a few, Australia’s lottery draws are available nearly every day of the week, offering “some of the best winning odds anywhere,” and to top it all, it’s 100% tax-free!
The birth of Australia’s modern lotteries
Australia became part of the “modern lottery world” with a television broadcast on June 24, 1972. It was done through a raffle with a jackpot of AU$50 thousand. In November 1979, its first non-raffle draw happened. It was coupled with the screaming news story “Today’s the Day to go Lotto!”
The lottery had 6/40 format and carried a hefty prize of AU$384,975. Each Australian lottery was managed independently when it was first held. On February 22, 1994, Australia opened the Oz Lotto, turning it into the first national lottery game.
The Set for Life game came to the Australian lotto landscape through its first draw on August 7, 2015. Seven winning numbers are selected from a lottery draw of 1 – 44 numbers, every night of the week. Your ticket gains you entry into 7 consecutive draws, which means you have 7 chances of winning with a single set of 7 numbers each week. This unique Australian lottery offers you the chance to win $20,000 a month for 20 years! It’s guaranteed for up to 4 winners, with a prize pool being shared if there are more than 4 winners.
Description: Set for Life lotto
Australia’s Monday Lotto, Wednesday Lotto, and Saturday Lotto give you the best chance of winning by far, at just 1 in 8,135,060 for all three draws, according to the online lottery ticket messenger service The Lotter.
The chance to win the lottery is largely due to the “smaller guess range and fewer numbers needed to win” in the lotteries.
Monday Lotto, with its format 6/45, has a jackpot odds at 1:8,135,060.
Description: Monday and Wednesday Lotto draws
Wednesday Lotto (6/45) offers 1:8,135,060 jackpot odds.
Oz Lotto, with 7/45 format, has 1:45,379,620 jackpot odds.
Description: Oz Lotto
Australia’s Powerball Lotto (7/35 + 1/20) has jackpot winning odds at 1:134,490,400.
Description: Powerball Lotto
Additionally, the Saturday Lotto, with 6/45 format, offers
1:8,135,060 chance of winning.
Description: Saturday lotto
Australia is also known for the biggest starting jackpot it can offer. The country’s biggest lotteries officers an initial jackpot prize of AU$1 million (approximately €590k). It can also go higher to a starting top prize of AU$4 million (approximately €2.36 million).
The largest starting jackpot goes to Australia Saturday Lotto, with its AU$4 million, while Australia’s Powerball Lotto has AU$3 million top prize.
Oz Lotto’s AU$2 million offers no jackpot cap and can grow to a higher number once they’re won.
Biggest Jackpots in Australian lotteries
The advantage of Australian lotteries is that they are much easier to win, according to The Lotter.
Here are the biggest Australian jackpots ever awarded:
- AU$150m/Powerball/September 19, 2019
- AU$111.9m/Oz Lotto/November 6, 2012
- AU$110m/Powerball/July 18, 2019
- AU$107.5m/Powerball/January 17, 2019
- AU$106.5m/Oz Lotto/June 30, 2009
- AU$100m/Powerball/August 16, 2018
Some of the latest winners at The Lotter are:
R.D. from Australia joined The Lotter early in 2013 and a short time later won a 3rd division prize of AU$6,427 playing the Australia Powerball on May 2, 2013.
O.S. from Russia won the AU$10,602.60 second division prize playing the Saturday Lotto draw on January 26, 2013.
J.W. from Australia won a 3rd division Match 6 prize of AU $7,065 in the Oz Lotto draw on August 8, 2017.
Australian D. R. won AU$22,760 by playing a 10-line systematic form in the Oz Lotto.
A syndicate of 22 of The Lotter’s players from all over the world won an AU$24,937.50 Division Two prize in the Oz Lotto draw on July 31, 2018.
Ways to increase your chances of winning in the lottery
You need to find the lottery that fits you before playing this game. Ask yourself first whether you are the type of person who wants bigger money at higher odds or small prizes with a greater chance of winning. Also, remember the jackpots in all divisions.
Don’t pay attention to the lottery gurus. There is no truth in their so-called number systems. You can try being part of a lottery syndicate “to spread the costs out.” Don’t forget to try on extra games. They cost lesser but can bring a bigger chance of winning.
Above all, be consistent.
Based on the laws of probability, all the numbers carried the same opportunity being drawn. But there are ways of lessening these odds. According to the law of probability, these odds will become lesser by the time you play more. To illustrate this, you only have one opportunity to win against high odds if you play in the game for a given week only.
But if you play every week, “the overall lottery odds don’t change but the chances of you beating them does.” This is the reason why you hear plenty of stories that those who finally got the jackpot were those who joined in the lottery games for years.