Australia Lottery

To play a standard game, you choose 7 numbers from 1 to 47. On draw night, 10 balls are drawn from the barrel: the first 7 are the winning numbers, and the final 3 are supplementary numbers used to determine several of the lower prize divisions.

To win Division 1 (the jackpot), your single game panel must match all 7 winning numbers. But you don’t need all seven to win something — a prize can land with as few as 3 winning numbers plus 1 supplementary number. There are 7 prize divisions in total.

Ways to play:

• QuickPick — the fastest option; the system randomly generates your numbers.
• Marked entry — you choose your own numbers (up to 18 games in-store, or up to 50 online).
• System entry — play more than 7 numbers (from 8 up to 20) for more combinations and more chances to win across divisions.
• Pick entry — guarantees 1 or 2 of your numbers are winning numbers.
• Syndicate — pool money with a group to buy a larger entry and share any prizes.

Oz Lotto has 7 prize divisions. Division 1 is the rolling jackpot, guaranteed to start at AU$4 million (about US$2.6 million) and building each week until it’s won. The overall chance of winning any prize is roughly 1 in 51. Here’s the full breakdown, based on a single standard game:

The largest Oz Lotto jackpot on record was drawn on 6 November 2012 (Draw 977), when a Division 1 pool of AU$111,972,151 (about US$74 million) was shared between four winning entries. Each took home AU$27,993,037.76 (about US$18.5 million). The four winners were spread across the country (including a family from Meadow Heights in Victoria and a workplace syndicate of 80 members) with two winners in Victoria and one in New South Wales.

More recently, in January 2025, a single entry from New South Wales won an entire AU$100 million (about US$66 million) jackpot, the largest amount ever taken home by one Oz Lotto ticket, a prize level the game had only ever reached a couple of times before.

Because Australian lottery operators keep winner identities confidential unless the winner chooses to go public, many of Oz Lotto’s biggest winners remain anonymous. They are known only by their state, suburb, or the type of entry they played.

Oz Lotto launched in 1994 as Australia’s first fully national lottery game, at a time when not every state shared a single draw. Originally players picked 6 numbers from 45. On 18 October 2005 a seventh number was added, lengthening the odds and growing the jackpots — for a period the game was even branded “Super 7’s Oz Lotto” in some states before reverting to the national Oz Lotto name around 2012.

A second major change came on 17 May 2022, when the game moved to 7 numbers drawn from 47 (up from 45), added a third supplementary number, and lifted the base jackpot to AU$3 million. On 4 February 2026, the guaranteed starting jackpot was raised again to AU$4 million. Today Oz Lotto is owned and operated across the country by state and territory licensees under The Lottery Corporation’s The Lott brand, and by the government-owned Lotterywest in Western Australia.

You can buy Oz Lotto entries two main ways:

• In-store — at any authorised newsagency, kiosk or lottery outlet displaying The Lott or Lotterywest signage. Fill out a coupon or ask for a QuickPick.
• Online — through the official operator website or app (thelott.com and the Lott app, or Lotterywest in WA), and via authorised online resellers such as Oz Lotteries. A standard game costs around AU$1.65 (about US$1.09), so a ticket’s total price depends on how many games you play.

You can also set up multi-week entries, advance entries or a subscription so you never miss a draw. Note that Australian lottery services are restricted to players physically located in Australia.

How you claim depends on the amount and where you bought your ticket:

• Bought online: prizes are calculated automatically and paid straight into your online lottery account, and you’ll be notified by email. There’s nothing extra to do for most wins.
• Smaller in-store prizes: lower-value prizes (generally up to around AU$1,500, depending on the state) can be collected in cash or by cheque at any lottery outlet.
• Larger in-store prizes: bigger wins — including Division 1 jackpots — are claimed directly through the state lottery operator by completing a prize claim form, either online, by post, or at a lottery office. Keep your ticket safe, as it’s your proof of purchase.

Prizes must be claimed within the operator’s stated period (typically several years), so it pays to check your ticket promptly after each draw.

Taxes on winnings

Here’s the good news for Australian players: Oz Lotto winnings are completely tax-free. Lottery prizes in Australia are not treated as assessable income by the Australian Taxation Office, so you keep 100% of your prize as a lump sum — there’s no tax deducted at the time of the win.

The one thing to keep in mind is what happens after you win: if you invest your winnings and earn interest, rent, dividends or capital gains, that income can be taxable in the normal way. Winners playing from outside Australia may also have reporting obligations in their home country. For anything beyond the basics, it’s worth speaking to a licensed financial adviser or accountant.

Can you stay anonymous?

Yes. In Australia, Oz Lotto winners can choose to remain completely anonymous. The lottery operators keep winners’ personal details confidential and will not release them publicly without the winner’s consent. This is very different from parts of the United States, where some states require winners to be named.

When you hear about a “Meadow Heights family” or “a Sydney healthcare worker” winning big, that’s usually a winner who agreed to share their story (often anonymously) rather than one who was named against their wishes.