Oz Lotto is a national lottery game, administered by Tattersall's and played on Tuesday nights. It was introduced on 26 February 1994 and promoted as the first fully national lotto game, at a time when New South Wales was not a part of Saturday Lotto. Each game costs $1.10 plus agent's commission.
Originally, the game was the same as Saturday Lotto, requiring six numbers to be picked out of 45. However, starting 18 October 2005, a seventh number began to be drawn, greatly lengthening the odds of winning Division 1 (close, but not longer, than that of Powerball). In line with this change, branding for Oz Lotto changed in many states, to emphasise the seventh ball (including new names, such as Super 7's Oz Lotto in Tatts regions, and Oz 7 Lotto in Queensland. However as of 2012, the game has reverted to the branding of Oz Lotto in these regions). Oz Lotto guarantees a minimum division one prize pool of $2 million.
Oz Lotto currently holds the record for the largest Australian lotto jackpot prize. Originally guaranteed at $100 million, four winners shared a Division 1 pool of $111,972,151.04 in the draw on 6 November 2012.
Although the draw now requires seven numbers to be selected, the minimum prize level (of 3 winning numbers and one of the supplementary numbers) was unchanged, thus leading to seven prize divisions:
| Division | Winning Numbers Required | Probability (Single Game) |
|---|---|---|
| 1st Division | 7 | 1 in 45,379,620 |
| 2nd Division | 6 + supplementary | 1 in 3,241,401 |
| 3rd Division | 6 | 1 in 180,078 |
| 4th Division | 5 + one or both supplementary | 1 in 29,602 |
| 5th Division | 5 | 1 in 3,430 |
| 6th Division | 4 | 1 in 154 |
| 7th Division | 3 + one or both supplementary | 1 in 87 |
| Any Prize | 1 in 55 |
Read more about this topic: Lotteries In Australia