Francesca Rudkin: Making Lotto harder to win might come with more problems

So, what’s your number?  

What’s the amount you think would be perfect to win in Lotto Powerball? The amount that allows you to pay off the mortgage, set the kids up, help family, and maybe fulfil a dream or two - but without it upending your life in a negative way?  

We’ve all got a fantasy number, right? I reckon $10 million would be perfect, but to be honest, I’d take anything the numbers give me. A couple of grand - cheers!  

Lotto NZ has a proposition to evolve the draw to ensure it continues to appeal to people. It’s early stages and will need Government approval, but the idea is to see fewer regular wins and more of the exciting mega jackpots of $50 million. How do they do this? By adding another Powerball number. 

Currently to win Powerball, you need to get the 6 first division numbers, and the Powerball number. There are 10 balls in the Powerball draw and your chances of winning are 1 in 38 million. Add one extra Powerball and the odds would decrease to 1 in 42.2 million, meaning the jackpots rise to the crazy amounts which cause a frenzy of ticket sales.  

$50 million jackpots sound exciting. It’s why so many people ignore the odds and queue up to buy a ticket in the hope of winning an unfathomable amount of money. So Lotto NZ are likely onto something here. But it will also make it harder to win. 

I’ve always felt uncomfortable when the number gets above the $20 million mark. Yes, it’s wonderful to think of the good you could do, but I also start to think about things - like whether I would tell anyone? How could you keep it private? Would it impact my friendships? Relationships with family? How would it impact our children and how they chose to live their lives? Would it change priorities and values?  

Yes, you could say it’s a waste of energy overthinking something which I can say with confidence is not going to happen. Even so, hearing about Powerball winners, and there have been 11 overnight millionaires this year, including two lucky punters who split $30 million from Saturday last week, does see me buying the occasional ticket.  

So knowing it’s even harder to win and there will be fewer winners makes the lotto draw less appealing to me. For two simple reasons. I don’t think anyone needs to win $50 million. And I’d much prefer more New Zealanders had the life changing experience of waking up on Sunday a heck of lot better off, rather than just a few waking up filthy rich. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News TALKS'B.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
So what's your number? What's the amount you think would
be perfect to win? And Lotto Powerball the amount that
allows you to pay off the mortgage, set up the kids,
help family, maybe fulfill a dream or two, but without
it upending your life in a negative way. We've all
got a fantasy number, right. I reckon ten million would

(00:35):
be perfect, but to be honest, I'd take anything the
numbers give me a couple of grand cheers. Lotto has
a propossession to evolve the draw to ensure it continues
to appeal to people, and it's really early stages. They're
going to need government approval. But the idea is to
see fewer regular wins and more of the exciting mega

(00:56):
jackpots of fifty million. And how do they do this
by adding another powerball number. So, of course, currently to
win powerball you need to get the six five fo
division numbers in the powerball number. There are ten pow
ten balls in the powerball draw and your chances of
winning are one and thirty eight million. If we add

(01:17):
one extra powerball, and the odds would decrease to one
and forty two point two million, meaning the jackpots rise
to these crazy amounts, which would cause a frenzy of
ticket sales. So fifty million jackpots, it sounds exciting, right,
It's why so many people ignore the odds and queue
up to buy a ticket and the hope of winning

(01:37):
an unfathomable amount of money. So a lot of New
Zealand are like beyond to something here. But it will
also make it harder to win. I've always felt uncomfortable
when the number gets above the twenty million mark. Yes,
it is wonderful to think about all the good you
could do, but I also start thinking about things like
whether I'd tell anyone, how could you keep it private?

(01:59):
Would it impact my friendships, relationships with family? How would
it impact our kids and how they choose to live
their lives. Would it change prior and values? And yes,
you could say it's a waste of energy overthinking something
which I can say with confidence is not going to happen.
Even so hearing about powerball winners and there have been
eleven overnight millionaires this year, including two lucky punters who

(02:22):
split thirty million Saturday last week, That does see me
buying the occasional ticket, so knowing it's even harder to
win and there will be fewer winners makes the lotto
draw less appealing to me for the two simple reasons.
I don't think anyone needs to win fifty million, and

(02:43):
I'd much prefer more New Zealanders had the life changing
experience of waking up on a Sunday a heck of
a lot better off, rather than just a few waking
up filthy Rich.

Speaker 1 (02:54):
For more from the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to news Talks it'd be from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio