Stats say scratchies, Powerball best bet

IF YOU want to win the lottery from Rotorua in 2011, statistics suggest Instant Kiwi and Powerball are your best bets.
Rotorua outlets sold 423,089 winning lottery tickets last year, totalling $5,805,263 in prizes. That equates to 6.4 wins and $87.96 per person across Rotorua's 66,000 population.
The most money came from standard Lotto. More than 40,000 tickets sold in Rotorua won a share in the $2,842,412 of prizes here - that's an average of $70.73 each.
One big local winner, who preferred to remain anonymous, was hoping for the "best Christmas ever", after winning $140,992 in the November 27 draw. And she got it.
"It really was lovely, not so much for me, but for the children and grandchildren. I have never been able to go out and just buy what I wanted before."
She told The Daily Post the windfall had also set her up for a good 2011 with plans for some home renovations.
"I have paid off the mortgage and to be debt free is amazing," she said.
But Lotto made up less than 10 per cent of Rotorua's lottery successes last year. More than a third of the city's wins came from Instant Kiwi scratch cards.
However, scratch cards also had the lowest payout. With total Instant Kiwi winnings of $1,001,955, the 152,738 successful scratchies averaged just $6.56 each.
The second-highest number of winners came from Strike, in which 138,982 tickets won a total of $921,617 - averaging $6.63 each.
Powerball provided the highest average payout of $82.79, but this game also contributed the smallest number of winners. At 2916 wins, less than 1 per cent of Rotorua prizes came from Powerball.
Two Lotto first-division prizes were secured by Rotorua-bought tickets. Springfield Superette & Lotto sold a $1-million ticket and The Lucky Lottery Shop's first-division winner picked up $250,000.
Another two tickets - sold by Take Note Rotorua and Western Heights Foodmarket - won first division in Strike, scoring $166,007 and $140,992 respectively.
The city had two top Powerball winners, both bought from Westend New World, with prizes totalling $24,421.
Pak'n Save Rotorua and The Lucky Lottery Shop each sold two successful Big Wednesday tickets, collectively worth more than $200,000.
City tickets picked up 11 prizes in Lotto promotions, ranging from $5000 to $150,000. These also included two cash or car prizes with a value of $120,000.