Oz Lotto Winners

Oz Lotto has a Division 1 prize that starts at $2 million and rises quickly when it is not won. It has given away a number of staggering jackpots since it was launched in 1994. Find out about the biggest wins below:

1. $111 Million – 6 November 2012

The biggest Oz Lotto jackpot sparked a mad rush for tickets, with sales reportedly averaging more than 400,000 per hour at their peak in the run-up to the draw. The Division 1 prize jumped up more than $40 million from the previous week and it ended up being split between four winning tickets – each worth more than $27 million.

One of the winning entries belonged to a syndicate of 80 players, who each received a cut of $349,913. Two out of the four tickets were purchased in Victoria, while one was from New South Wales and the fourth was bought in Queensland. It was a record for the biggest prize in Australian lottery history that lasted for almost seven years until it was broken by a Powerball win.

2. $106 Million – 30 June 2009

It was estimated that around one in three adults participated in this draw – which was the largest ever seen in Australia at the time. The $106 million jackpot was won by two tickets, each worth $53 million.

One entry belonged to a middle-aged couple living in Queensland, who chose to remain anonymous but said that a large portion of the money would go towards helping family and charity. The other winner was a man from Adelaide who described himself as a ‘battler’. When he found out about his big win he admitted: “I have no idea how I’m ever going to sleep again.”

3. $80 million - 25 June 2019

A jackpot of $80 million – the biggest Oz Lotto Division 1 prize in almost seven years – was shared by two ticket holders. Both winners bought their tickets in Queensland – one winner was from Ipswich and the other from the Sunshine Coast.

The winner from Ipswich declared that she would ‘do everything’ with the money, including a long-awaited family holiday to Canada. The other winner’s big dream was to go to the Italian Grand Prix, while he also said he would buy a house and upgrade the car. Both winners opted to remain anonymous.

4. $74 million - 8 May 2012

Three players split a Division 1 prize worth $74 million in May 2012 following a run of eight draws without a winner. The prize per winner was $22.9 million and the first player to come forward was a mother from Adelaide in South Australia, who said she must have screamed when she checked her ticket because the whole family rushed into her bedroom.

The other winners took longer to come forward but were just as pleased when they pocketed the cash. One was from Geelong West in Victoria, while the other purchased their ticket from a 7-Eleven store on Wentworth Avenue in Pendle Hill in Sydney, New South Wales.

5. $70 million – 26 March 2019

A Melburnian man bought two Oz Lotto tickets with the same numbers by mistake and ended up winning a larger share of the Division 1 prize. He played the same numbers for 30 years and he forgot that he had bought an entry to the 26 March draw so bought another one.

His tickets matched all seven numbers to take two-thirds of a $70 million Division 1 prize – a sum totalling over $46 million. Had he bought just one entry he would have won $35 million. The other share of the jackpot was won by a ticket holder in Hobart, Tasmania.

6. $70 million – 7 August 2018

The Oz Lotto jackpot rolled over seven times to reach $70 million – its biggest amount in five years. Two ticket holders hit all seven numbers to win a share of the Division 1 prize, with each of them taking home $35 million. One winner was from Lithgow in New South Wales and the other was a family syndicate from Victoria.

The family syndicate, from north-east Victoria, contained six members who purchased their entry online. They said they were planning ‘heaps of stuff’, including a holiday to Europe, a cruise and even upgrading the washing machine. The other winner, a man in his 50s, said he would be fast-tracking his retirement plans and helping out his kids.

7. $70 million – 17 December 2013

This draw set a new record for the largest payout ever seen on a single ticket in Australia. The ticket belonged to a syndicate of friends from the Gold Coast in Queensland, who purchased a 12-game Quick Pick from the Golden News and Casket Kiosk in Runaway Bay.

The group, who were all women, regularly had lunch together and had just eaten out when they decided to use the leftover loose change to enter Oz Lotto. The head of the syndicate said: “When I realised we’d won I just sat there shaking like a leaf!”

8. $60 million – 18 August 2015

Three tickets matched all the numbers in this $60 million draw from August 2015, ending a sequence of seven draws where nobody had won. One of the winning entries belonged to a syndicate of five from Darwin in the Northern Territory who had bought shares from a local newsagency, netting each member $5 million each.

One of the other winners was a young man from Brisbane in Queensland, who said the win would allow him to pursue his travel dreams. A player from Perth in Western Australia claimed the final third of the money.