Winning Wheel Introduced August 2004. Every Lotto ticket had a 16-digit Winning Wheel number (e.g. 123-45678901-20XX) which was the same as the ticket's serial number, except that the two digit checksum was replaced with XX for security reasons. Every draw, a serial number was drawn at random. The winner was awarded an all expenses paid trip to the studio in Wellington and, later,
Auckland where they appeared on the show and spun the eponymous wheel to determine their prize. The two-metre diameter wheel had 30 segments, each segment carrying either a cash prize ranging from $100,000 to $1 million, or non-cash prizes such as cars, shopping sprees and a $500,000 house and land package. If someone did not wish to appear on the Winning Wheel, they might nominate a person to spin the wheel on their behalf, or they might take the minimum guaranteed prize of $25,000. Entry into the draw for the Winning Wheel was automatic for all Lotto and Lotto Powerball tickets. Lotto Strike tickets were excluded, as they had a serial number ending in 12XX, not 20XX. The Winning Wheel ended on 4 July 2015.
TeleBingo TeleBingo ran from 24 July 1996 until 27 June 2001. There were two components, a lottery and a game show. The original timeslot was on
TVNZ 1 at 8pm on a Wednesday, but later in its run, it was moved to the later timeslot of 9.30pm. In late 1999, TeleBingo was also repeated at around 3.30pm and, later, 4pm the next day. The hosts were
Simon Barnett, who was later replaced by Grant Walker, and Ingrid Mole.
Lottery Between 34 and 75 numbers were drawn from 75. Viewers at home had to match the numbers on-screen with numbers on a mini bingo board. These could be purchased at $2 each for a minimum of two tickets. There were three divisions: • Four Corners: If you got each of the three corner numbers (the other was just a tick) before 27 numbers had been called, you won Four Corners. • Cross: If you got the eight numbers that made a diagonal cross (plus the top-left corner tick) before 34 numbers had been called, you won Cross. • Bingo. The big one – they keep drawing numbers until a Bingo winner had been found amongst all tickets for that draw. If there was one before 34 numbers had been called, they kept going until 34 numbers were called. The record was 37 Bingo winners. If there were no winners in a division, the respective prize pool was carried over to the next division.
Game show Three contestants appeared on the show. They started with $125 and a corner square, they earned $25 and another corner square for every question right and lost $25 (but not their corner square) for every question wrong. At the Cross round, they were given two squares as a head-start towards Cross. After Cross was earned, random squares were given with every correct answer until either a viewer or a contestant got Bingo. There were two possible outcomes as to the end: • If a contestant got Bingo first, they kept going until a viewer got Bingo, and then any contestants who got Bingo would come away with double their final total. • If a viewer got Bingo first, it went to "Run For Your Money", in which the contestants had 60 seconds to get Bingo, and anyone who got it would come away with double their final total. The contestant with the most money then went to a memory board, where he or she had to reveal two matching squares to get a certain prize, and then he or she had the option of taking away the prizes or risking them for more the next week.
Risk Risk ran from 25 July 2001 until 13 February 2002. Draw numbers started from where TeleBingo numbers left off. The show was on
TVNZ 1 in a more consistent time slot, at 7.30pm on a Wednesday. The show was hosted by Jon Bridges.
Lottery Twenty-five numbers from 1 to 90 were drawn. The objective was to match one of the following: • The 12 numbers in Game 'R' • The 9 numbers in Game 'S' • The 6 numbers in Game 'K' • The 3 numbers in Game 'I' All panels except Game 'R' had one or more $ signs which could be marked off immediately. A number could appear on two panels on a single ticket. The game-board looked like this: X X X $ X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X $ X X X X $ $ X X X X X X X $ Game 'R' jackpotted if not won. There was a team colour printed on each ticket. If that team won, then all tickets bearing that colour went into a draw for a cash prize.
Game show Three teams of two contestants (namely Red, Yellow and Purple) were spotted $500 ($300 in the first few episodes) to begin the game with. Correct answers were worth $50, and incorrect answers were penalized by that amount. After two rounds, the team in third place was eliminated, and at the end of the last round, only one team prevailed.
Big Wednesday The Big Wednesday draw was introduced in October 2005, and was televised on
TVNZ 1 each Wednesday, at approximately 8:20 pm. Offering substantial non-cash prizes, such as luxury cars, atop a significant cash prize (minimum value of $3.5 million), it was marketed as an opportunity to win "the ultimate lifestyle". Lines were $1 each, with (like the main Lotto game) a minimum of four lines per ticket. The mechanism of the draw was similar to Lotto, with players trying to correctly guess the six numbers drawn. However, there were 50 balls for Big Wednesday, not 40, and the game had the added feature of a "coin toss"; along with the numbers, players must predict heads or tails. A player matching all six numbers will only win the jackpot if they correctly guess the outcome of the coin toss. The odds on winning the jackpot were 1 in 31,781,400. However, if the player did not match the coin toss, they would win Second Division, which consisted of a smaller jackpotting cash prize. As with Lotto, players could also have their numbers selected for them by the machine by purchasing a Big Wednesday "Dip". The Basic Big Wednesday Dip cost $6.00. Players could opt to select either heads, tails or random heads/tails. A popular option was a Big Wednesday Dip with both heads and tails, which produced two tickets with the same numbers, one ticket with "heads" on all line and one ticket with "tails" on all lines, which ensured that if the player matched all the numbers, they would win both First and Second Division. Effective from the draw on 14 September 2011, the number of balls was increased from 45 to 50, lengthening the Division 1 (and 2) odds to 1 in 31,781,400. The Division 5 prize (for three correct numbers, previously winning a Lucky Dip entry) was split into new Division 5 for a matched coin toss, now winning a cash prize, and Division 6 for an incorrect coin toss prediction, winning a four-line Lucky Dip entry. Big Wednesday ended on 30 September 2015, with a Must Be Won draw.
Jackpot The original format of Big Wednesday saw the first draw's jackpot consist of $2 million cash and two luxury cars. If not won, non-cash prizes were added to the jackpot for the next four weeks, after which the cash component then increased until the jackpot reached a combined cash value of $30 million. At this point, a "Must Be Won" draw would be held, with the jackpot divided amongst lower division winners if Division 1 was not won. Some of the "non-cash" prizes – namely, the travel and bach components – were paid as cash (via cheque or direct credit); the other prizes could be paid as cash at Lotto NZ's discretion, including: • if the winner did not fulfill certain conditions for receiving a prize in kind (for example, being under the age of 18, or not being a permanent New Zealand resident), or • where there was more than one winner of the jackpot prize in a single draw (normally Division 1, however it could also be divided amongst a lower division in a Must Be Won draw); the cash value of the non-cash prizes being divided equally amongst all winners. Effective 14 September 2011, the jackpot prize was changed so all of the non-cash prizes are made available from the first draw in a jackpot sequence (although with some of the "non-cash" prizes reduced in value). The advertised "cash" component then increased with every jackpot draw until won (or the $30 million "Must Be Won" threshold is reached). The minimum jackpot prize consisted as follows: • $2 million cash • Two luxury cars (currently an
Audi Q7 and
Lamborghini Gallardo), • a
Visa Platinum credit card with $50,000 of credit, • a $50,000 cash prize intended towards luxury travel, • a Rayglass 2200 boat, • a $675,000 cash prize intended towards a
bach.
Play 3 Introduced October 2014. Play 3 was Lotto NZ's third daily game with the first draw on 6 October 2014. Draws took place daily at 6pm. On a coupon, players could choose a three-digit number between 000 and 999 and a play type, or they could have the computer choose their number and play type at random by marking the random number box on the coupon or purchasing a dip. Players could win larger prizes by playing a multi play type for $2, $3, or $6. Play 3 was discontinued on 2 March 2019, ticket sales ended on 17 February 2019. ==Online sales==