Oz Lotto Jackpot Reaches $70 Million

Friday 4 May, 2012 16:21

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As unbelievable as it sounds, the Oz Lotto jackpot will roll over for the eighth time and an estimated $70 million is up for grabs in the next draw - Tuesday May 8th.

Australians flocked to buy lottery tickets this week in the hope of seeing the elusive jackpot finally hit, but despite $50 million up for grabs, nobody managed to manage the seven numbers needed to take home this eye-watering sum.

As such, the next draw - on Tuesday - will see $70 million in the jackpot kitty, and lottery retailers are expecting a bumper week of sales as Australians try to get their hands on the millions.

The Oz Lotto jackpot has been rolling over continuously since March 6th when it was last won. In that draw, a lucky lottery player took home $5 million after matching all 7 numbers.

However, since then, the lottery has continued to grow week after week as Australians miss out on the big one.

The Oz Lotto reaching $70 million is certainly among the highest amounts of cash seen in a lottery jackpot in Australia, but still needs to grow quite a bit until it reaches the highest prize ever paid out by Oz Lotto - a whopping $106.5 million. That sum was won by two ticket holders in June 2009.

Odds of Winning Oz Lotto

There is no doubt that even more players will be buying tickets for the May 8th Oz Lotto draw than those who drove ticket sales up for the $50 million draw this week.

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But what are the odds of winning $70 million?

If only one game is played, the chances of winning the Oz Lotto jackpot are one in 45,379,620 (double Australia's population!).

If a player purchases 18 games to the Oz Lotto draw, the odds to win are considerably higher - 1:2,521,090.

Of course, the Oz Lotto has a long way to go before its jackpot reaches the highest jackpot ever paid out - the A$634 million paid out by the US Mega Millions lottery in March this year!

The chances of winning the Mega Millions, however, are less than winning the Oz Lotto jackpot - 1:176,000,000 - and players will be comforted to know that they have more chance of being struck by lightening than they have of winning the US lottery.

Despite these odds, Australians are still purchasing more lottery tickets than ever. After all, not buying a ticket removes even that one chance of becoming that lucky winner.

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