Buy New Zealand Lotto Tickets Online

While New Zealand Lotto is locally famous, international interest is growing due to increased access through reputable online lotto agents.

With fantastic jackpots that range from NZ $1 million to NZ $50 million and several bonus games to choose from, this low-profile lottery certainly deserves the attention.

In this guide, we'll cover all the details about it, from how to play to how to buy New Zealand Lotto tickets online-no matter where you live.

About New Zealand Lotto

New Zealand Lotto was established in 1987 as the first official lottery game in New Zealand.

The first draw took place on August 1, 1987. At the time, there was only one draw per week.

Since then, the game has expanded to multiple weekly draws and now includes add-on bonus games that give players significantly bigger payouts.

The Crown entity Lotto New Zealand oversees and administrates all lotteries in the country, including the New Zealand Lotto game.

All of the profits from its games are distributed as funding for various community projects.

New Zealand Lotto Draws

The New Zealand Lotto has two draws per week: one at 8:20 pm NZST every Wednesday and one at 8 pm NZST every Saturday.

The draws are shown live on local cable channel TV1. The results are posted on the lottery’s official website at 9:15 pm NZST on the day of the draw.

Each live draw picks six winning numbers and one bonus ball. Ticket sales close at 7:30 pm NZST on the night of the draw and reopen when the draw is complete.

Lotto tickets can be purchased at local retailers, via the official Lotto NZ App or by signing up to use MyLotto on the lottery’s official website.

Players in the country need a New Zealand bank account to register for MyLotto.

However, international players can purchase lottery tickets online through a concierge service. This type of lotto site will send an employee out to buy a physical ticket, upload a scan of the ticket to the player’s account and notify them of their prizes.

Wagers on the outcomes of NZ Lotto draws can also be made via various online lottery betting sites.

How to Play New Zealand Lotto

To enter a New Zealand Lotto draw, a minimum of four lines must be played. For each line, players choose six numbers from 1 to 40.

To win the jackpot, players must match all six numbers that are drawn.

Players can either choose four lines of numbers themselves, or they can opt to play a “Dip,” where the lottery terminal chooses random numbers. The minimum play is eight lines when playing a Dip.

Tickets cost NZ $0.70 per line when players choose their own numbers, so the basic ticket costs NZ $2.80.

The cheapest Lotto Dip, called the Basic Lucky Dip, costs NZ $5.60 for eight lines.

There are also two additional play options to boost payouts for winners: Powerball and Strike.

Powerball is played by adding an extra number from 1 to 10 to each of the lines played. If a winning line also matches the Powerball drawn, the winner takes home a much bigger prize. Powerball costs NZ $0.80 per line to play.

Strike costs an additional NZ $1 per line to play. To win, players must match any of the first four Lotto balls drawn in the order they are drawn. All numbers must be on the same line. Strike can be played on its own or in addition to Powerball.

New Zealand Lotto Prizes and Odds

The New Zealand Lotto has a minimum guaranteed jackpot of NZ $1 million.

However, if players match all six numbers plus the Powerball, they take home an average of NZ $11 million.

The Powerball starts at NZ $4 million but rolls over if no one wins to a maximum prize of NZ $50 million.

If more than one person hits a jackpot, the winners must split the prize. Matching all four numbers with Strike nets an extra NZ $300,000 on average.

The odds of winning the Lotto jackpot are 1 in 3,838,380 per line. 

These are excellent odds compared to most popular international lotteries.

Winning the hefty NZ Powerball jackpot, however, requires beating odds of 1 in 38,383,800.

The basic New Zealand Lotto game has seven prize tiers, called Divisions:

Playing Strike adds some serious weight to the prize tier payouts. To win Strike, players must match between one and four of the first four numbers drawn in the order they are drawn.

When playing with the Powerball add-on, the odds are tougher, but the payouts are also substantially higher:

Claiming New Zealand Lotto Prizes

Winners can claim prizes at local convenience stores in New Zealand or by calling Lotto NZ’s Customer Support line at 0800 695 6886.

Prizes worth over NZ $1,000 can be collected at any Lotto outlet or at Lotto NZ’s head office in Auckland.

To claim prizes, winners must submit their winning tickets and banking details and complete a Prize Claim Form.

The prize money is deposited directly into winners’ bank accounts.

Players who use the lottery’s website to buy tickets are notified of their wins with a message in their personal online accounts. The prizes are then paid directly to players’ MyLotto e-wallets.

Winners of prizes worth NZ $1,000 and up are also notified by email. Players are prompted to fill out an online Prize Claim Form, and the prize is typically paid out within a few days.

Lotto NZ keeps all winnings tickets, and all prizes must be collected within 12 months of the draw date.

There are no local taxes on prizes, but international winners must abide by their home countries’ tax laws when reporting their winnings.

Notable New Zealand Lotto Winners

The biggest prize ever paid out by the New Zealand Lotto was an astounding NZ $44 million Powerball jackpot. The prize was taken home by a lucky local couple in November 2016.

Visitors to New Zealand have also been extraordinarily lucky and won masses of prizes. Between 2007 and 2017, there were 62 foreign visitors who scooped up prizes ranging in value from $1,000 to $500,000. Altogether, they won nearly NZ $4 million.

These winners came from countries as far away as Canada, Ireland, Japan, Samoa and the Philippines. 

New Zealand Lotto-Should You Play?

The New Zealand Lotto has numerous prize tiers and many ways to win.

It’s also convenient to play online with the official MyLotto app or by using an online lottery agent to purchase tickets.

The Powerball jackpots, which can pay out anywhere from NZ $4 million to NZ $50 million, make it especially worthwhile to play the New Zealand Lotto.