Oz Powerball
What is Oz Powerball?
Oz Powerball is Australia’s version of the US Powerball lottery game. Oz Powerball is based on the American version, but it does come with some differences. With the American Powerball, if you match even one Powerball number, you can win something even if it’s a miniscule amount. With Oz Powerball, however, you need to match at least three numbers, one of which being a Powerball number, in order to take home a prize.
How did it originate?
After the great success of the Oz Lotto, the Australian Lotto Bloc organisation decided to implement a second national Australian lottery game. That became the Oz Powerball! Oz Powerball is now another highly popular lottery game taking Australia by storm. The game was introduced in 1996 and became easily recognisable by the tagline “One ball could change it all!”
How big is it today?
Today, Oz Powerball has a guaranteed Division 1 prize of $3 million. Millions of people all over the world are eager to get their hands on tickets for the draw every week. Oz Powerball is operated by Tatts Group.
Who can play Oz Powerball?
Thanks to online lottery ticket retailers, anyone can play Oz Powerball even if you are not an Australian citizen! An agent for the lottery ticket concierge site will buy a ticket on your behalf if you buy one through the website. A small admin fee is charged to the ticket, which makes the ticket price slightly more expensive. It’s worth it though, because you have the opportunity to enter a massive lottery draw that might not be up for grabs in your country.
Keep in mind that the legal age to play the lottery online is 18 and over.
When can I play Oz Powerball?
Oz Powerball draws take place at 9:30pm AEDT, every Thursday evening. Apart from the draw date, a player can buy a ticket for the upcoming draw at any time of day or night, as long as it’s before the cut-off time to order tickets. Each site has their own rules for cut-off times, so make sure you read them carefully. You wouldn’t want to miss any life-changing draws!
Oz Powerball Prize Structure
For those curious about winning statistics, here are a few to sink your teeth into…You have a 1 in 110 chance to match the minimum number of balls to win a prize, two main numbers and the Powerball. The odds of winning a Division 1 prize are 1 in 76,767,600.
Bear in mind that the Oz Powerball jackpots start at 3 million AUD, but it can increase by large amounts if there are consecutive rollovers.
Match 6 main balls and the Powerball – 40% of prize pool
Match 6 main balls – 3.25% of prize pool
Match 5 main balls and the Powerball – 3.4% of prize pool
Match five main balls – 1.9% of prize pool
Match 4 main balls and the Powerball – 1.45% of prize pool
Match 3 main balls and the Powerball – 12.65% of prize pool
Match 4 main balls – 11.35% of prize pool
Match 2 main balls and the Powerball – 26% of prize pool
The Biggest Wins
The biggest wins for Oz Powerball are as follows:
5 June 2009 – $58,737,207 was won.
21 August 2014 – $70 million was won by two lucky tickets. Each winner walked away with $35 million.
7 January 2016 – $70 million was scooped by one lucky single ticket holder. They came from Queensland.
30 July 2009 – This record hasn’t been broken yet. A whopping $80 million was won by multiple tickets. It is the largest prize pool to have been won in the Oz Powerball game so far.
Distribution of Revenue
Many lottery players don’t realise it, but there are millions of AUD in unclaimed prizes that are put to good use. Just in 2015 a report showed that there was a total of 14 million AUD in unclaimed prizes. Seven of those unclaimed lottery prizes were a whopping $1 million, too. Three were close to the $2 million mark.
You might be asking yourself how such big prizes go unclaimed. Well, the truth of the matter is that players have forgotten that they bought tickets for a particular draw, lost their tickets, put them in the wash, or quite simply had they stolen. The possibilities are endless.
Australia has different states, and each state handles the distribution of revenue from Oz Powerball differently. In the states of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, lottery winners have up to six years to claim their prizes. After that time is up, the money goes to government. In Queensland, the money goes to good causes or future promotional lottery draws.
In the state of Victoria, prizes don’t expire there, but are transferred to the state after six months where lottery winners still have the opportunity to claim their winnings. In South Australia, lottery winners have the least amount of time to claim winnings. They have 12 months. After 12 months, the money is forfeited. All forfeited winnings then go to the Australian government to distribute to charities and communities. Operating costs and commission for retailers also need to be taken into account.
Public hospitals and health services, sporting organisations, and arts groups will also receive attention. Every 34 cents per dollar spent on a lottery ticket goes towards these causes.
The revenue made from Oz Powerball aims to better the quality of life and wellbeing for Australians. In 2013 alone, Oz Powerball brought in $173.3 million. Oz Powerball sponsors charities, hospitals, sports, the Arts, and grants. Here is an example of how distribution of revenue was handled by Oz Powerball:
- $7 million went to the University of Western Australia
- $109.3 million went to charities
- 1299 grants were approved
- TADWA was helped, the Town of Victoria Park, Perth Swing Dance Society, Kinetica, Sail into life, Brightwater, Awesome arts, EON Foundation, Richmond Fellowship, and Garnduwa.
How to play Oz Powerball
There were some changes made to the game in March 2013. The number of balls drawn increased to 6 including a Powerball number which gives players a higher chance to win lower prizes seeing that it’s very difficult to win the jackpot. Players must match two numbers and a Powerball to win a cash prize.
What makes the Oz Powerball so much more attractive than the US Powerball at times, is the fact that Australians don’t get taxed on their lottery winnings! Only Americans do.
Keep an eye out for Oz Powerball scams
Lottery scams reach you in the form of email, text message, or phone call. They tell you that you have won a lot of money for a competition or lottery game you don’t remember entering. They might even try to contact you on social media.
The prize they tell you that you’ve won could be in the form of a holiday, electronic equipment, or money. To claim this prize, they ask you to pay a fee for administrative purposes, government taxes, bank fees, or courier charges. Lottery scammers make their money by continually collecting bogus fees from victims.
Another way that scammers get you without you even knowing, is by a phone call. They might ask you to call a particular number which is billed at a premium rate. Don’t call any number! You will get a frightening bill. There is usually a sense of great urgency about them. They warn you that your prize will expire if you don’t act soon. They also urge you to keep your win a secret so they can’t be picked up by the police.
They will even ask you for personal information so they can steal your identity and steal your money in your bank account. At times they even send a cheque that is counterfeit so they can get your trust for you to pay them bogus fees. When you go to cash out the cheque, however, it will bounce.
Always be on your guard. When something sounds too good to be true, it most probably is!