First Ever $1.5 Million Strike ‘Must Be Won’ Draw Called For Saturday

In what continues to be a record-breaking year for Lotto NZ players, the Strike jackpot has rolled over to a $1.5 million Must Be Won draw for the first time ever.

Strike is an add-on to the Lotto game but can also be played on its own. Under changes announced in July, the threshold for a Strike ‘Must Be Won’ draw being called was raised from $1 million to $1.5 million. This is the first time the new jackpot amount has been reached.

“We’re always looking for ways to keep our games exciting. With a Must Be Won draw, the $1.5 million available is up for grabs in Strike Four (first division), but if there are no winners there, the money will be bagged by players in the next winning division,” says Lotto NZ Head of Corporate Communications Will Hine.

“Nothing else has changed. The odds of winning Strike Four remain the same in a Must Be Won draw so our players do not need to change the way they play – they simply have the chance to win a bigger jackpot prize.

“Although Strike is normally played as an add-on game to Lotto and Powerball, we’d expect to see an uptick in players going for a standalone Strike ticket now that we have a Must Be Won draw,” says Hine.

Players can add Strike to any Lotto or Powerball ticket or play it on its own for $1 per line.

Lotto NZ reminds players that big jackpots still have small odds. Customers are encouraged to spend only a little, and only from their entertainment budget.

2024 has already been a record-breaking year for Lotto NZ players, with the Powerball jackpot hitting the $30 million mark an unprecedented four times, and the biggest prize ever won on a single ticket of $44.67 million taken home by one lucky family in August.

Note:

Strike is an add-on to the Lotto game and is part of the ‘Lotto family’. To win Strike Four (First Division), a customer must match all four numbers on their Strike ticket in the exact order the first four balls emerge from the Lotto ball machine. If it is not won, the prize jackpots to the following draw until it reaches the ‘Must Be Won’ threshold.

In a Strike Must Be Won draw, if no single ticket wins Strike Four, the prize pool rolls down to the next highest Strike division with a winner.

Since the Strike Must Be Won jackpot was increased, two people have won $1.1 million:

The largest Strike prize in Lotto NZ history was $1.76 million won by an Auckland family in 2008, prior to Strike Must Be Won thresholds being introduced.

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