Lotto Gives Players an Extra Chance to Win $1mn

Media Release

8 August 2004

Every Ticket Gives Lotto Players an Extra Chance to Win $1 million Every Week

All Lotto players will be getting another chance to win one million dollars every week live on Saturday's Lotto draw, New Zealand Lotteries Commission (NZLC) Chief Executive Trevor Hall announced today.

Beginning 21 August, a new feature of Saturday's live televised draw will be Lotto's Winning Wheel. Every week a Lotto player from somewhere in New Zealand will be identified through their Lotto ticket's unique serial number and soon after flown to Wellington to spin to win $1 million or other cash and non-cash prizes.

"Lotto's Winning Wheel will contain thirty segments carrying prizes ranging between $25,000 and $1 million with the average prize being worth around $220,000. Non cash prizes include luxury cars, dream holidays and a home and land package" said Mr Hall.

"To get things started, five winning serial numbers will be randomly selected on the 14 August draw. One of the lucky winners to come forward will be the first person brought to Wellington to spin the wheel live on the Lotto draw on TV2 at 8pm on 21 August. The other winners will have their turn over the next 6-8 weeks," he said.

From 21 August a minimum of one Lotto ticket serial number will be drawn from all valid tickets each Lotto draw. The holder of the winning ticket will be invited to travel to Wellington with a friend or family member to spin Lotto's Winning Wheel live on the Lotto draw.

The winner will receive a "Winners Pack" that includes travel to Wellington, accommodation, a meal with a Lotto presenter and an optional mini make-over.

"We're also introducing a 'new look' set and a third presenter, Kyllee King-Turner, who will take turns with Hilary Timmins and Russell Harrison hosting the draw.

Mr Hall says Lotto's Winning Wheel is the second phase of major changes to Lotto which started in late July to add fun and excitement for players.

"We've already announced some big changes to how the Lotto game is structured - including removing Guaranteed Millionaire and having First Division shared equally; increasing Second Division to an average of $20,000; increasing Sixth Division to an average of $24; and increasing the price from 50 cents to 60 cents a line - and now we're announcing Lotto's Winning Wheel which will give every Lotto player another chance to win $1 million every week. Players can now see that by increasing the price and making the other changes, we have been able to give them a much better game overall."

"Staff in all Lotto stores have been trained about all the changes and are keen to talk to their customers about Lotto's Winning Wheel. They've known for a few weeks and have done a fantastic job of keeping it under wraps while we explained the first phase of changes to the game."

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LOTTO 2004 GAME CHANGES - QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Section One: Lotto's Winning Wheel Questions

1. What is Lotto's Winning Wheel?

Lotto's Winning Wheel is an exciting new game feature for Lotto that gives every Lotto player another chance to win a million dollars, or other exciting cash and non-cash prizes every single week.

It is a purpose-built wheel two metres in diameter that has been thoroughly tested and which has the same integrity as NZLC's Lotto draw machines.

2. What will the prizes be?

Lotto's Winning Wheel will contain thirty segments carrying prizes ranging between $25,000 and $1 million with the average prize being worth $220,000. Some of the prizes will be cash and others will be non-cash prizes such as luxury cars, dream holidays and a home and land package.

The 30 possible prizes are; $1 million $500,000 cash x 2 $350,000 cash x 2 $250,000 cash x 4 $100,000 cash x 7 $ 50,000 cash x 4 Home and land or investment property (worth $500,000) Lamborghini (worth $350,000) $1000 per week for six years Pick your own prize worth $250,000 x 2 A Jeep Grand Cherokee and a SF535 Haines Hunter boat A trip for four people to Disneyland, Los Angeles plus $5000 spending money A Greek Island Cruise for two people plus $5000 spending money Toyota Corolla Sony Home Entertainment system

NB Non cash prizes will change from time to time

3. How will it work?

All Lotto tickets for Draw 894 - to be drawn on 14 August - will be eligible to be selected for Lotto's Winning Wheel. Five winning serial numbers will be selected on the 14 August draw.

The first winner to come forward from the 14 August draw will be the first person to spin the wheel on Saturday, 21 August.

-n every Lotto draw from 21 August a minimum of one winning Lotto ticket serial number will be drawn from all valid tickets. The holder of winning tickets will then be invited to travel to Wellington with a friend, or family member, to spin the Lotto's Winning Wheel live on the Lotto draw.

4. Is Lotto's Winning Wheel a separate game from Lotto?

No, Lotto's Winning Wheel will be a regular part of Lotto.

5. How will ticket holders know if they have won?

The winning ticket will be identified by the serial number which is located at the bottom right-hand corner of each ticket. Once players have been through a few draws they will quickly recognise this number. We'll also be providing Point of Sale (POS) material in our Lotto retail outlets that will explain what to look out for and we'll be featuring this information in our advertising campaigns.

6. How will Lotto's Winning Wheel appear on the Saturday draw?

We'll be doing the Lotto draw, followed by the Lotto Powerball draw and then have the Lotto's Winning Wheel segment. The draw will still last for five minutes, but we'll free up time for Lotto's Winning Wheel by taking

-ut the community benefit inserts. These will now run through the week.

We will be introducing a 'new look' set and a third presenter, Kyllee King-Turner, to complete the transformation of the Saturday draw. Our

-ther two presenters, Hilary Timmins and Russell Harrison, will take week about with Kyllee to host the draw and to ensure our winners have an experience of a life time when they visit Wellington and participate in Lotto's Winning Wheel.

7. With such a new aspect to the draw, how will you ensure people know they can take part?

There is a major advertising campaign, supported by in-store Point of Sale (POS) material, to tell our players about this exciting addition to Lotto.

-n the first Saturday the Lotto's Winning Wheel is revealed - 14 August - we will select five winning serial numbers to kick-start the process.

8. Will the winner have to pay to get to Wellington?

No. The winner will receive a "Winners Pack" that includes travel to Wellington, accommodation, a meal with a Lotto presenter and an optional mini make-over.

9. What happens if you don't have a winner on a particular week?

We are aiming to have a winner on each week and are confident that once we've publicised Lotto's Winning Wheel all of our players will know what they have to do to become eligible to spin the wheel and win.

10. What if I win the chance to appear on television but I don't want to?

Holders of the winning ticket who don't want to appear on television can nominate another person to spin the wheel on their behalf. The ticket holder, not the spinner, will be entitled to any prize that is won. If they don't want to participate at all, they will receive the minimum prize

-f $25,000.

11. Will Lotto's Winning Wheel winners also be able to win other Lotto prizes?

Yes. All Lotto tickets are eligible to be drawn for Lotto's Winning Wheel and, depending on what type of ticket they have bought, all Lotto players are also entered into the draw for other prizes. Lucky Dip players will now have two chances every week to win $1 million - with First Division and Lotto's Winning Wheel - and Triple Dip ticket holders will have three chances as they'll also be in to win with Lotto Powerball. If either Lotto

-r Lotto Powerball are jackpotting, the prizes will be even higher.

Section Two: Game & Price Changes

12. What are the changes that you are making to Lotto?

Changes:

- A jackpotting 1st Division prize of at least $1 million shared equally.

- 2nd Division increases from $4,000 to an average of $20,000.

- 6th Division more than doubles from $10 to an average of $24.

- The introduction of an exciting new live element, Lotto's Winning Wheel, that will create winners live on the Saturday Lotto draw every week.

- A new price of 60c per line for Lotto.

These will be achieved by:

- Removing Guaranteed Millionaire.

- Dropping the second Bonus Ball - this will restore the number of winners to the level of our original Lotto game.

13. What is the price increase?

The price of Lotto will increase from 8 August. We will lift the price per line for Lotto from 50 cents to 60 cents. This will be the first increase since the game started in 1987, seventeen years ago.

The price changes for our most popular forms of entry will be:

- Lucky Dip - from $5 to $6

- Power Dip - from $10 to $11

- Triple Dip - from $12 to $13

The price of Lotto Powerball and Lotto Strike remains the same. The minimum entry point will be $2.40 for four lines of Lotto. 14. When will the price change come into effect?

The changes come into effect on 8 August 2004.

15. What about the other divisions. What will happen with them?

The average prizes for the other divisions are $635 for Division Three, $60 for Division Four and $33 for Division Five.

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