Lotto NZ

Introduction

Have you ever wondered how you can become a millionaire overnight without spending a million dollars? One of the reasons I chose this topic is because I always wondered if it was worth playing Lotto or saving your money, and if so how do you improve your chances. I hope this report will show people the truth. But to be guaranteed to win the top prize of the New Zealand lottery you would have to spend around $10,747,464. So how do you improve your chance of winning?

When and Why was Lotto invented?

The first lottery is reported to have taken place in what is now Belgium and The Netherlands around the fifthteenth century, although its exact purpose is still unknown. Lotteries were later used by Milan to raise money for its war against Venice. Lotteries were first introduced in New Zealand in 1987 by the New Zealand Lotteries Commission, and in 2003 The Lotteries Commission was renamed to Lotto NZ. The profits made by Lotto NZ are used to support small businesses, help charities, and fund government projects.

What are your chances of winning Lotto?

You actually have a higher chance of being killed by a firework than winning the lottery. The probability of winning the top Lotto division is around 1 in 3,838,380 whereas the chances of being killed by a firework is 1 in 386,766. During research for this inquiry, it became clear that the better your odds of winning, the lower the average prize money. For example, in division five you have to match four numbers with the odds of winning being 1 in 485 with a prize of $30. Compare this to division one, in which you have to match all six balls correctly and have a 1 in 3,838,380 chance of winning at least $350,000.

How will buying more tickets affect your chance of winning?

As said by Mark Glickman, an expert in the field of game probability, “The truth is that while it is possible to increase your chances of winning by buying more tickets, you are still unlikely to recover the cost of the money spent on tickets”. There are 13,983,816 possible combinations in Lotto and in order to guarantee the top prize of at least $400,000 you would need to buy $9.8 million dollars worth of tickets.

The different lottery games in New Zealand

Lotto

Lotto is probably the most iconic and well known lottery in New Zealand.

To play Lotto you must complete three steps.

Step 1: Purchase a ticket for $2.80 at a Lotto NZ shop or online at the Lotto NZ website.

Step 2: Fill out the four rows on the ticket with six numbers from 1 to 40.

Step 3: At the live Lotto draw every Wednesday and Saturday, six balls will be chosen at random. If the numbers on the balls match correctly with the numbers on your ticket, you win the prize.

There are seven different types of prizes in Lotto, these are called ‘divisions’. For each division you need to match a different amount of numbers. For example, in division 7 you must match 3 numbers correctly and for division 1 you must match all 6 numbers correctly.

Powerball

While Powerball has the biggest prize money, it also has the worst chances of winning. To play Powerball you must repeat steps 1 and 2 from above. On the right side of the lotto ticket, you must add a number from 1 to 10 to each line of your Lotto ticket. At the live Lotto draw, after the Lotto balls have been chosen, a single Powerball will be selected at random. The only catch is that to win Powerball you must first win Lotto.

Strike!

To play Strike! you must select the correct order of the first four Lotto numbers. This is a little like division five in Lotto where you must match four numbers but they can be in any order. Strike! actually has one of the best return on investments with a better probability than Powerball and a better reward than Lotto.

Keno

Keno is one of the three lotteries available online at the Lotto NZ website. Keno has the best probability of a win, making it the most popular online game. To play Keno you must go to the Official Lotto NZ website. You then must select ten numbers ranging from one to eighty. Keno numbers are drawn four times every day. Keno is like Lotto in that you have to fill out lines with numbers. If you guess the numbers correctly, you win.

Instant Kiwi

Instant Kiwi is the collective name for all of the scratch off, or scratchie, tickets circulated by Lotto NZ. There are currently around 37 different scratchie tickets online and instore. Prices of tickets range from $1 to $10 and prizes from $1 to $100,000. To play any Instant Kiwi game you need to buy a scratchie ticket from any major store, such as Countdown, Pak n’ Save, and Lotto NZ. The prize for winning differs for each game, for example, if you were to invest $1 in a scratchie ticket, you would be most likely to only get a small prize of $1 to $100. But if you were to invest $10, you could possibly win up to $100,000! Your probability of winning always stays the same for each game, so the main factor is how much you are willing to gamble.

Bullseye

It’s exactly what it sounds like. In bullseye you have to get as close to the random target number as you can. The Bullseye number is drawn every day at 6:00 pm. Before then, you must choose a six digit number from 000000 to 999999. The closer you get to the number, the more you win. Bullseye is one of the best games to play as you are almost guaranteed to win, even if it is just a little.

What is done with the money made from Lotto?

For every $1 made by Lotto, 23 cents are transferred to the New Zealand Lotteries Grants Board to be distributed out to businesses in need. 55 cents are reinvested into Lotto prizes and the remaining 22 cents are given to the government as taxes. A good example of Lotto NZ supporting Kiwi’s is the hundreds of thousands of dollars given to Surf Life Saving New Zealand every year.

How much money is spent on Lotto and how does it affect people?

In the 30 years that Lotto NZ has been active, New Zealanders have spent 20.8 billion dollars on tickets. 4.6 billion has gone to the government in taxes whilst 4.8 billion has gone back into the community and businesses. But sometimes the thrill is too much for people. Most people say that they will only play one or two games, but quickly it becomes something they are obsessed with. You may think that winning Lotto would bring you the most joy in the world. But when 20 lottery winners were asked how winning Lotto has affected them, only the most recent winners reported any massive changes in their lives. This showed that even though winning the lottery is an incredible feeling, it is only a temporary feeling. Eventually all of the lottery winners previously mentioned became accustomed to their lives with large amounts of money, so their happiness returned to what it would have been before they won Lotto. So while winning Lotto may be an amazing experience, just know that it will eventually wear off. Lotto can also become incredibly addictive. Once someone has the idea that they can eventually win if they keep playing, it is very hard to break the habit of using every dollar of spare money to play.

Conclusion

The big question that was being asked here was “How can you improve your chance at winning Lotto?”. Over this report we have covered all the different types of lotteries in New Zealand, as well as the origins of Lotto and what is done with the money made from it. While there is no easy way to have guaranteed win, there are some tips and tricks that you can use to improve your chance of winning.

1. Buy more tickets. Buying more tickets does improve your chances but there is still some risk that you will waste all your money on nothing.

2. Always choose the same numbers on your ticket. When you choose different numbers each time, you lower the odds of winning.

3. Don’t spend all your money at once. Try to wait until there is a large prize and then try your luck.

4. Play games that have the best probability of winning. For example, Lotto and Bullseye.

And the best way to improve your chances of winning…

Play online games; Online games such as Keno, Instant Kiwi, and Bullseye allow you to customize the amount of money you spend and they have the best probability of winning.

Reflection

Teacher Feedback

You can once again be proud of your efforts, Leighton. Despite a stressful environment you have managed to complete a comprehensive and engaging inquiry. Good man!

Peer feedback on presentation

Luke M

Despite facing a stressful situation Leighton you have smashed your final inquiry for the year - mean mahi mate!

Hunter G

I really liked how you used google to present your questions, all and all a good inquiry, well done.

Joseph S

I really enjoyed it and helped me learn a lot about lotto

Time spent on Docs

Total up the total time you spent on your Inquiry docs (3 weeks | 42 x 50 min lessons = 2100 minutes = 35 hours)

8.5 hours

Link to published report and bibliography on your web site

https://sites.google.com/tbc.school.nz/leighton

After analysis the comments above, complete the following statements to create your reflection for this Inquiry:

The things I need to KEEP doing, that is the actions or attitudes that helped me produce quality work, are.... Always putting my best effort into writing my report and creating my presentation.

The things I need to STOP doing, that is the actions or attitudes that did not lead to my best work, are… Getting distracted by talking to people.

The things I need to START doing, to ensure I do better next time, are… Getting all my information in the first week otherwise I panic because I still need to gather more information.