Game looks for big winner

Your chances are worse than one in 16 million but if you do strike it lucky you could be the equivalent of $30 million richer.

NZ Lotteries' newest game, Big Wednesday, is still looking for its first Division One winner, and the prize pool sneaks closer to a maximum $30 million each time no one wins. The game's drawcard is its luxury prizes.

The original prize pool starts at $2 million plus two luxury cars. A further luxury prize is added every week for the first four weeks Division One is not won.

After that the cash component grows depending on ticket sales each week, but is never less than $500,000.

"If we had extraordinary sales, it might be more," said Lotteries spokeswoman Helen Morgan-Banda.

When the pool reaches $30 million, it must be won, meaning the prizes are shared by the highest division winners.

Ms Morgan-Banda said that rather than dividing up the cars and other non-cash prizes, they were turned into their monetary equivalent.

The same happens if the jackpot is not struck after 52 weeks, or more than one person wins Division One. In the unlikely event the jackpot does reach the maximum, it may make the Division One odds of one in 16,290,120 appear slightly rosier.

Big Wednesday is similar to the weekend's Lotto except there are 45 numbers to choose from and a coin toss at the end.

If you match all the numbers and the coin toss, your winnings would, on average, be equivalent to more than $5 million.

Division Two - all six numbers without a match on the coin toss - is a cash prize that jackpots when no one wins it. The average payout is $201,590.

A random serial number for a Big Wednesday ticket is drawn for the weekly Second Chance Draw.

The coin toss choice on the first line on the winning ticket determines the second chance prize.

NZ Lotteries was unable to put a value on tonight's prize package. 


Tonight's jackpot

Big Wednesday's prize pot is:
* $5.5 million cash
* $500,000 bach
* $250,000 American Express Platinum Card
* $50,000 travel every year for five years
* Range Rover Vogue V8
* Porsche 911 Carrera
* Mustang 3200 Sports Cruiser boat