A history of NSW Lotteries Lotto draws, now held on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday nights. NSW Lotteries is a corporation owned by the Government of New South Wales in Australia. However, since 2010, it has been operated by Tatts Group Limited under a 40-year exclusive licence. It runs games of chance through a network of agents, most of which are newsagencies. It falls under the government portfolio of Gaming and Racing and is governed by the Public Lotteries Act 1996. Lotto There are three Lotto draws weekly, occurring on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday evenings. Although the three are marketed identically by NSW Lotteries, the Saturday Lotto draw is a national lottery run by Tatts Group Limited and syndicated by NSW Lotteries. It is known elsewhere in Australia as Tattslotto or Gold Lotto. The Monday & Wednesday Lotto draws are run by NSW Lotteries and are available across Australia except Queensland. Although the draws are played identically, all requiring players to select six numbers from a possible 45, Saturday Lotto/Tattslotto is more expensive to enter due to its larger prize pool. Saturday Lotto Saturday Lotto is a national Saturday night draw conducted by Tattersall's, and is syndicated to all Australian states and territories through the Australian Lotto Bloc. The game is marketed as Tattslotto in Victoria, Tasmania, Australian Capital Territory, and the Northern Territory; as Gold Lotto in Queensland; as X Lotto in South Australia and as Lotto or Saturday Lotto in New South Wales, and Western Australia. In the absence of poker machines, the state government of Victoria awarded Tattersall's the right to conduct a weekly lottery to raise additional revenue to complement the health system. The first Tattslotto draw, with a first division prize of A$50,000, was on 24 June 1972, televised on HSV-7 Melbourne. Tattslotto, which was the first of its type in Australia, was originally based on the European style lotteries, where six numbers are selected from 40 in a standard game. Each week, six numbers and one supplementary number were mechanically drawn from a transparent barrel. Each televised draw was live-to air and witnessed by three officials, one from Tattersalls and two representatives from the government. From Draw 413, on 6 July 1985, the current standard game format, six from 45, was introduced to decrease the chances at winning a prize. Also from this draw, an additional supplementary number was drawn. Originally, players would complete an entry ticket of between two and 10 games, at a cost of A$0.60 cents per game. The ticket consisted of an original and a carbon copy. The player would present the ticket to an agent/seller who would validate both copies of the ticket by inserting the ticket into a designated cash register. The copy would be returned to the player and the original would be kept by the agent/seller and sent to Tattersalls prior to the next draw. In the 80s, the network of agents/sellers were computerised. This allowed a later closing time for each draw, scannable entries with printed tickets, randomly selected computer-generated tickets (known variously as a "Quick Pick", "Pick Quick", "Auto-Pick", "Easi-Pick" or "Slikpik"), more games per draw to be purchased, etc.

• published: 16 Jun 2015
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