Name
Operator
Type
Country
Website
Founded
Lottorating

Ozlotto
Tatts Group Limited
National lottery
Australia
thelott.com/lotto
1994
29/50

Introduction

Overview

Ozlotto is one of two large national lotteries operated in Australia which pool stakes from the various states.

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Where Available

Australia is one of few countries, which does officially allow non residents to play the game via authorised resellers (who charge a margin on top of the normal ticket price).

Date and time of draws

Draws for the ozlotto are held just once a week on Tuesday nights at 8.30pm AEST.

No. of balls and how to hit the jackpot

Players choose 7 balls from a pool of 45. An extra two 'bonus' balls are also selected in the draw (making 9 from 45 in total), which are used for some prize tiers.

Other Variations

There are no variations on this game.

Ticket Price

Tickets for the ozlotto cost $1.20 (AUD) to play per line making it one of the cheapest lotteries to play with no minimum no. of lines enforced. Note that this is the ticket cost when buying a ticket in Australia.

Tickets Sold Per Draw

In terms of ticket sales per draw ozlotto is up there with some of the biggest lotteries worldwide. On an average week, it will sell around 17m per week. When jackpots start to soar, so too do ticket numbers and jackpot hunters are keen in Australia. In October 2015, for example, for a jackpot of 60m, there were around 70m tickets sold!

Sales per draw

As tickets are relatively inexpensive though, sales per draw of this lotto are average for a national lottery. Sales per capita figures in Australia though are second only to the Canadians. See also the Australian Powerball.

Minimum jackpot

Jackpots are seeded with A$2m and grow at a good rate per week (see contribution to jackpots below).

Average jackpot

The average jackpot you will see on ozlotto if you play each week is around $8m.

Average jackpot when hit

The average size of a jackpot when it's hit should be around $14m although in the last year, it has been hit much less frequently as has thus averaged $25m.

Highest jackpot ever

Ozlotto has the record for the highest jackpot in Australia, worth $111m in 2012.

Jackpot winners per year

You should see around 20 jackpots won per year but in the last year this has been just over half of this number (with each jackpot being worth a lot more).

Contribution to the jackpot

A healthy 22% of ticket value is attributed to the jackpot.

Introduction

The RTP or prize payout % of sales is advertised at either 55% of 60% depending on which state you're playing in. This will vary of course, depending on the size of jackpot you are playing 'against' on any given week. From our calculations, the average RTPs are much lower than this for the 'more normal' size jackpots - see below.

RTP when first seeded

Average RTP

The jackpot does grow quite fast though on this lottery (not least because the contribution to the jackpot from stakes is generous). An average RTP on any given week will be around 0.37.

RTP when jackpot typically hit

If jackpots are 'normally' hit when they reach $14m then your RTP is 0.48. To get the stated 55% return then, the jackpot would need to be a bit higher at around $18m.

Best RTP

When the jackpot gets to $50m then there is real value for players though before sharing. Problem is that the jackpot hunters in Australia are quite hungry - see the 70m tickets sold when the jackpot hit $60m last year. The chances of sharing your jackpot then at this level will be quite high so you might need to wait until it gets to $125m to see real net value.

Annuity vs Cash

Advertised jackpots are their cash amount with no taxes payable.

Jackpot alerts

This is one of those lotteries that can get quite interesting quite quickly. This is because of the volume of tickets sold and the generous contribution to jackpots. Trouble is there are a lot of players in Australia who are aware of player 'value' and so the ticket numbers tend to grow quite fast when jackpots become 'interesting'! Worth setting your jackpot alert for this one at around $80m but be aware of ticket sales numbers as your chances of sharing the big one will reduce your value. Should be good value though at around $125m.

Pros

Very affordable for just the one line. Good growth in jackpots too which does build interest in this lottery. Healthy levels of ticket sales.

Cons

Average jackpots not too exciting and RTP some way off the stated 55% most weeks. Odds of winning any prize very low for just the one line.

Verdict

Set your jackpot alert to $50m but keep an eye on ticket sales at this level as the chances of sharing a jackpot do reduce player value here. To play this lottery or others, check out our preferred agents page.