Lotteries Commission presents giant cheque to Christchurch

The Lotteries Commission has presented a giant cheque for more than $8.2 million to the Christchurch Earthquake Appeal.

Fifty cents from every dollar spent on Lotto, Lotto Strike and Lotto Powerball on Saturday was donated to the relief fund - with the total $8,248,300.

Lotteries Commission chief executive Todd McLeay handed the oversized cheque over to Internal Affairs Minister Nathan Guy at Parliament today.

"We're very grateful for our customers, both regular players and new players, in supporting this, but also for our very extensive retail network in making this happen," Mr McLeay said.

"We very much see this as close to the core purpose of Lotto, to help New Zealand communities. This is definitely a situation where a community is hurting and, not surprisingly, New Zealanders want to help out any way they can."

Mr Guy said he wanted to thank every New Zealander who had bought a ticket for the draw.

"We know it's going to take a fair amount of time and resource to get Christchurch back on its feet, and I thank the Lotteries Commission for providing the mechanism to raise funds for the people of Christchurch, it's a fantastic result."

Mr Guy said he had not bought a ticket for the $17m draw himself.

"I didn't think that it would be such a good look if the Minister of Internal Affairs did happen to win, but of course I'm very supportive of it."

The cheque would be transferred to the Lottery Grants Board this week, and then to the earthquake appeal.

- NZPA