Oz Lotto

Oz Lotto is a 7/47 game. You choose seven numbers from 1 to 47 — or take a QuickPick — and one draw is held each week, on Tuesday evening.

The part that catches people out is that ten balls come out of the machine, not seven. The first seven are the winning numbers: match all of them and you take Division 1, at odds of 1 in 62,891,499. The last three are the supplementary numbers, and they count towards Divisions 2, 4 and 7 only. That is why a ticket which misses the jackpot by a single number can still land the second division — if the number it missed happens to be a supplementary.

That structure gives the game seven prize divisions and an overall chance of winning something of roughly 1 in 50, computed from the official matrix. The lowest division, Division 7, needs just three winning numbers plus at least one supplementary, and it accounts for the largest single share of the prize pool.

The game was redesigned in May 2022, moving from 7 numbers out of 45 to 7 out of 47 and adding a third supplementary ball. That change lengthened the Division 1 odds and is why the game now produces the very large jackpots it does — the roll runs longer before someone hits it.

Every Oz Lotto division is pari-mutuel: it takes a fixed percentage of the prize pool and splits it among that division's winners. Nothing is a fixed amount, so the value of each division moves with ticket sales and the number of people who win it.

• Division 1 — 7 numbers — 1 in 62,891,499 — 40% of the pool
• Division 2 — 6 + 1 supplementary — 1 in 2,994,833 — 2.2%
• Division 3 — 6 numbers — 1 in 242,824 — 2.6%
• Division 4 — 5 + 1 or 2 supplementaries — 1 in 26,270 — 2.0%
• Division 5 — 5 numbers — 1 in 4,497 — 1.6%
• Division 6 — 4 numbers — 1 in 182 — 19.8%
• Division 7 — 3 + at least 1 supplementary — 1 in 71 — 31.8%

Those odds are computed directly from the 7/47 matrix and match the operator's published figures. Notice where the money actually goes: more than half the prize pool sits in the two smallest divisions, which is what makes the overall 1-in-50 chance of a return meaningful rather than theoretical.

This is the genuine structural advantage Oz Lotto has over the American games, and it is rarely spelled out.

**Nothing is withheld.** Australia does not tax lottery prizes. The Australian Taxation Office treats a win in a game of chance as a windfall rather than assessable income, so no tax is deducted at source and none is owed afterwards. That applies to overseas winners too — there is no non-resident withholding, no equivalent of the American Form W-8BEN, and no refund claim to file.

**There is no annuity.** US jackpots are advertised as an annuity paid in thirty instalments over twenty-nine years, and the cash option most winners take is worth roughly half the headline figure. Oz Lotto has no such structure: Division 1 is paid as a single lump sum, and the advertised amount is the amount that arrives.

Stack those together and the comparison changes shape. A US$100 million Powerball jackpot is, for a non-resident, roughly half that as a cash option and then 30% lighter again. An AU$100 million Oz Lotto Division 1 is AU$100 million, less only the currency conversion if you are being paid outside Australia. Oz Lotto's jackpots are smaller in headline terms; they are much closer to their headline in real ones.

The largest Oz Lotto prize on record is **AU$111,972,151**, drawn in November 2012 and shared between four winning tickets — for a long time the biggest lottery prize in Australian history.

The largest amount won by a single Oz Lotto ticket is **AU$100 million**, taken by a woman in western Sydney in the draw of 2 February 2025, making her the biggest individual lottery winner in Australian history.

Because the game has no jackpot cap, an unwon Division 1 simply keeps rolling from its guaranteed AU$3 million floor. That is the mechanism behind those figures: a long run of Tuesdays with no winner, and a prize that compounds the whole way.

Oz Lotto tickets are sold in Australia by the Lott and, in Western Australia, by Lotterywest. There is no residency requirement to win or claim a prize — the game pays whoever holds the winning ticket.

From outside Australia the route is a licensed lottery courier: the service buys a genuine ticket in Australia on your instruction, scans it into your account, and you hold that line for the Tuesday draw. The entry is identical to one bought over a counter in Melbourne. What differs is the price — you pay the face price plus the operator's service fee — and the currency, since prizes are paid in Australian dollars and converted on withdrawal.

We have country guides covering the legal position, home-country tax and claiming in detail for [the United Kingdom](https://toplotteryonline.com/how-to-play-oz-lotto-from-united-kingdom/), [Canada](https://toplotteryonline.com/how-to-play-oz-lotto-from-canada/) and [India](https://toplotteryonline.com/how-to-play-oz-lotto-from-india/).

Honestly, it depends what you are comparing it against.

Against the American giants it compares well on almost every axis except the headline. Division 1 at 1 in 62,891,499 is roughly four and a half times easier to hit than Powerball's 1 in 292,201,338. Nothing is withheld. There is no annuity discount. And a line costs about AU$1.50 against US$2 for Powerball or US$5 for Mega Millions.

Against those same games it loses badly on ceiling. Oz Lotto's record is AU$111.9 million; Powerball has paid US$2.04 billion. If the specific thing you want is the largest possible number, this is not the game.

And against the odds themselves, the usual caveat holds. 1 in 62.9 million is still a very long way from likely, no selection method shortens it, and every combination is equally probable. Treat a ticket as a small fixed-cost piece of entertainment rather than a plan, set a budget you would not miss, and if it stops being entertainment, [Gambling Help Online](https://www.gamblinghelponline.org.au/) and our [responsible play guide](/responsible-play/) are the places to start.