Big Wednesday Builds To New Record $25.7m

Media Release 10 June 2009

Big Wednesday Builds To New Record Offer of $25.7 million

For an unprecedented 20th draw in a row, Big Wednesday’s First Division has jackpotted again and has grown to a record offer of $25.7 million in cash and prizes in next week’s draw, says NZ Lotteries’ Chief Executive, Todd McLeay.

“After twenty weeks, the Big Wednesday First Division still has not been struck, making it the longest jackpot-run in NZ Lotteries’ history,” says Mr McLeay.

“Big Wednesday can only jackpot to $30 million, so this jackpot-run can’t last much longer.

The largest Big Wednesday prize to date is a $12.8 million prize won by a Thames player in February 2006 and the largest NZ Lotteries prize won to date is a $19 million Powerball prize won by a New Plymouth player in April 2008.

At the next draw on Wednesday 17 June, Big Wednesday players will be in to win:
- $24 million;
- an Audi R8;
- a Porsche Cayenne;
- a $250,000 American Express Platinum card;
- a $250,000 cash prize towards a luxury travel package;
- a Four Winns V258 boat;
- and a $750,000 cash prize towards a bach.

While the top prize was not struck, a lucky player in Waitakere has won $25,000 in Big Wednesday’s Second Chance draw. The winning ticket was sold at Massey Pharmacy in Auckland and the serial number is 381-22876451-13XX.

Every ticket bought for this Wednesday’s draw was entered in the Second Chance draw. The prize won was determined by the H or T selection on the first line of the ticket. As the ticket selection did not match the coin toss in the draw, the ticket holder has won $25,000.

“Anyone who bought their Big Wednesday ticket online should check it immediately," Mr McLeay says.

Big Wednesday Jackpot Facts and Stats
• On average, around 500,000 Big Wednesday tickets are sold each week. This number increases during big jackpots, and can double or more during very large jackpots.

• Odds for Big Wednesday First Division – 1 in 16,290,120 per line played. This gives odds of 1 in 2,715,020 for a 6-line Lucky Dip ticket.

• To win Big Wednesday First Division, the winning line must have all six winning Big Wednesday numbers and the correct Head or Tail.

• Big Wednesday was introduced in October 2005.

• The Big Wednesday First Division jackpot can go to $30 million before a ‘must be won’ draw is called. If the top prize is not won in the ‘must be won’ draw, it is added to the prize pool of the next highest division where there are winners and shared evenly between all the winners of this division (the non-cash prizes will be c`nverted to their cash value in this incidence).

• Big Wednesday First Division has been won 32 times. Of those First Division winners, 19 have covered Heads and Tails and won Second Division as well.

• When more than one person wins First Division in the same draw, the non-cash prizes are converted to their cash value which is added to the cash component and the total prize value divided and shared evenly between the winners.

• Only one store has sold more than one Big Wednesday First Division prize – Courts Take Note in Thames, who sold a $3.49 million prize in April 2007 and a $2.99 million prize in November 2007.
ENDS

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