The New Zealand Lotteries Commission was founded in 1987, and in 2013, it officially became known as Lotto New Zealand. Today, Lotto New Zealand stands as the official, national online lottery organisation in New Zealand. Over the years, the available online lottery games have expanded and evolved to meet player demand. Today, there are four main lottery games in New Zealand: Lotto, Keno, Bullseye, and Instant Kiwi. Additionally, Powerball and Strike function as two highly popular lottery variations, serving as supplemental add-ons to standard Lotto tickets.
Each of these games features different draw times, prize tiers, and frequencies. Some hold draws once or twice a week, while others offer daily opportunities to win. Playing lotto online gives Kiwi players a convenient, fast, and secure way to track numbers, claim prizes, and enjoy the thrill of the draw from anywhere.
When you log on to play the New Zealand Lotto online, you have several primary game variations to choose from. Understanding the mechanics of each game allows you to play smarter and pick the draw style that best suits your preferences.
The original lottery game, which began in 1987, remains the most popular online lottery game in New Zealand today. Players choose six numbers between 1 and 40 to create a line on their ticket. The aim is to have the same six numbers drawn. Unlike some international games, standard Lotto only requires you to match the numbers; the exact order drawn does not matter for the core game.
Strike – Strike was added to Lotto in 1993. A player can pay to add Strike to their standard Lotto ticket. When playing Strike, you add four Lotto Strike numbers to your ticket and hope to match those numbers in the exact order as the first four numbers drawn in the live broadcast.
Powerball – Powerball was added to Lotto in 2001 and remains the driving force behind the country’s most massive payouts. A player can pay to add a Powerball number to a line on their Lotto ticket. You choose a number between 1 and 10 in addition to the 6 numbers in your Lotto line. The aim is to have your 6 main numbers match, plus the exact Powerball number that is drawn.
Keno was introduced to the New Zealand lottery in 1994. When playing Keno online, you can choose how many numbers you want to play—anywhere between 1 and 10 numbers—and decide how much you want to spend per line. For each draw, 20 winning numbers are chosen out of a pool of 80. There is also an option to add a Keno Multiplier (introduced in 2019), which can significantly boost non-jackpot prizes.
Bullseye was added to the NZ Lottery lineup in 2009. To play Bullseye, you simply choose any six-digit number between 000000 and 999999. The goal is to get your number as numerically close as possible to the six-digit target number selected in the daily draw.
Originally introduced in 1989 to replace the Golden Kiwi, Instant Kiwi is New Zealand’s primary brand of scratchcards and instant online lottery games. These digital games come in a wide variety of interactive formats, with different entry prices, themes, and instant cash prizes.
MyLotto is the official website for the New Zealand online lottery system. You can easily visit the MyLotto platform to safely purchase your official lottery tickets online.
To purchase lottery tickets, you will need to register and create a verified account. Once you register and pass the required age checks, you will not have to do it again, and you can continue to purchase tickets seamlessly for any of the national games. When you purchase a ticket, you can choose to ‘Buy A Dip’, where the numbers are automatically generated for you by the system, or you can manually choose a ticket where you pick your own specific lucky numbers.
The rules of each of the online lottery games are simple and straightforward. Additionally, the online lottery interface has made playing even easier because you can quickly choose and save your favourite numbers directly within your account. Alternatively, you can almost always choose to use the quick Dip option, which means your numbers are automatically generated for you by certified online software. Playing the New Zealand Lotto online is as simple as registering, funding your wallet, placing a bet, choosing your numbers, and following the draws that you enter.
When you buy an official paper lottery ticket in a physical retail store, you can still check the results of the draws online. The main website and the official NZ Lotto mobile app allow you to scan your paper ticket’s barcode using your smartphone camera, or manually enter the serial number printed on your paper ticket, so that you can instantly check if you won any prizes.
It’s important to note, however, that if you purchased your ticket in-store and win a significant physical prize, you will generally also have to claim your prize in an authorised physical lottery retailer rather than having it automatically credited to a digital wallet.
The baseline odds of winning the NZ Lotto First Division, and successfully matching all six drawn numbers, is 1 in 3,838,380. However, when you also add supplementary games like Powerball or Strike to your ticket, the odds change considerably based on the difficulty of the added requirements.
Strike Four: The odds of winning a Strike Four, which means matching your four Lotto Strike numbers in the exact sequential order of the first four Lotto numbers picked in the draw, is 1 in 2,193,360.
Powerball: The odds of winning the First Division Lotto alongside the exact Powerball bonus number are 1 in 38,383,800.
Keno: The odds of winning Keno are a bit harder to calculate as the rules are highly flexible. A player can choose anywhere between one and ten numbers out of 80. Depending on exactly how many numbers a player chooses, the mathematical odds and chances of winning will naturally vary.
There are different tiers and divisions of prizes. Your odds of winning the top jackpot tier are the lowest, and as you go down the prize tiers, your chances mathematically increase. Prize tiers and divisions will be further explained in the sections below.
A lottery syndicate is created when a group of individuals—like friends, family members, or workplace colleagues—pool their resources and play the lottery together. When a group combines their money and purchases multiple tickets together, they exponentially increase their mathematical chance of winning that draw. If they win, they divide the prize evenly among the group based on contribution shares. Historically, well-organised syndicates have won some of the absolute biggest Powerball prizes in the history of the NZ Lotto.
With the availability and accessibility of online lotteries expanding rapidly across the globe, it can be hard to know which online lottery platform or casino site you should choose to play. Below are some of the critical features and factors you should evaluate when choosing which online lottery to engage with:
Location and Restrictions – Do you want to play in a regional, national, or international lottery? Does the site legally accept New Zealand players?
Game Variety – What type of game do you want to play? Does the platform offer keno, bingo, scratchcards, and traditional number draws?
Security and Licensing – Is the online lottery platform official, properly authorised, and licensed by a recognised global gambling authority?
Payment Methods – Is it easy to make deposits and place bets using NZD? Do they accept cards, bank transfers, or e-wallets? How long do payouts and withdrawals typically take?
An ‘instant win’ game is exactly what it sounds like: one where you find out instantly whether you have won a cash prize or not. For those who prefer fast-paced ‘instant win’ games, digital scratchcard games are often the best and most entertaining option.
A ‘number draw’ game is one where you have to wait for an official draw broadcast to happen. For instance, Lotto, Powerball, and Strike all have draws twice a week. Bullseye has a draw one time every day, and Keno has four draws every single day.
Many players choose the specific game they want to play based heavily on how long they want to wait for the final results to be published.
The size of the jackpot or the overall prize pool is very different depending on the specific game you are playing, and which online casino or lottery format you choose to play. Understanding the typical prize caps can help you decide where to spend your entertainment budget.
The underlying odds of winning, and the total number of sub-prizes available to win, are also incredibly important factors when deciding which online lottery to join.
The New Zealand lottery games each feature a headline jackpot, as well as multiple lower tiers of secondary prizes. NZ Lotto and Powerball both feature 7 distinct tiers (or divisions) of prizes, and Strike has 4 different prize tiers.
| Division | Matching Requirement (Lotto) | Approximate Odds |
| Division 1 | Match all 6 numbers | 1 in 3,838,380 |
| Division 2 | Match 5 numbers + Bonus Ball | 1 in 639,730 |
| Division 3 | Match 5 numbers | 1 in 19,386 |
| Division 4 | Match 4 numbers + Bonus Ball | 1 in 7,754 |
| Division 5 | Match 4 numbers | 1 in 485 |
| Division 6 | Match 3 numbers + Bonus Ball | 1 in 363 |
| Division 7 | Match 3 numbers | 1 in 35 |
This tiered structure is highly appealing to many players because it ensures that even if you do not perfectly match all the numbers with the numbers drawn, there is still a mathematically reasonable chance to win some type of cash prize. Since the odds of hitting the multi-million dollar jackpot are extremely slim, it is a great strategy to choose an online casino or lottery provider that offers multiple different tiers of prizes and various ways to win back your ticket cost.
New Zealand Lotto is the main lottery game, and Powerball NZ Lotto is a supplemental variation of Lotto. A player can choose to only play Lotto, or can add Powerball to their Lotto ticket. However, a player cannot only play Powerball without playing Lotto.
In NZ Lotto, a player chooses six numbers between 1 and 40 to make a line on their ticket. When playing Powerball NZ Lotto, a player chooses an additional number between 1 and 10, so the line will have a total of seven numbers.
The NZ Lotto and Powerball NZ share the same draws, occurring two times a week. However, if you are only playing Lotto, you do not need to pay attention when they draw the separate Powerball number.
Yes! The official Lotto NZ app is called MyLotto. When you download this app for free, you can play any of the NZ online lottery games from wherever you are. The MyLotto app also has many other user-friendly features that make placing bets, playing, and checking results very easy and accessible from your smartphone.
Play Online – Create a verified account on the official MyLotto website and begin playing right away.
Download the MyLotto App – Log into your MyLotto account and purchase tickets, place bets, play and check results for all the NZ lotto games through the official NZ Lotto mobile app. The app is readily available for both Android and iOS operating systems.
Play in Store – There are over 1,400 authorised lottery stores located throughout New Zealand. You can purchase a ticket and check results at any of these physical stores. Also, if you download the MyLotto app, you can seamlessly check if the ticket you bought in-store is a winning ticket by using the digital ticket scanner directly on the mobile app.
To purchase lottery tickets, play Instant Kiwi, or claim lottery prizes in New Zealand, you must be legally at least 18 years of age. Online platforms and apps require strict age verification checks during the account registration process to enforce this requirement.
No, any winnings secured from the official New Zealand Lotto or regulated online casinos are considered a windfall rather than standard income under New Zealand tax law. This means that 100% of your lottery prize is entirely tax-free within the country.
When funding your online lottery wallet or purchasing tickets directly via the official platform, you can generally use New Zealand-issued Visa and Mastercard debit or credit cards, alongside secure direct bank transfers. Third-party international online casinos typically accept a much broader range of payments, including global e-wallets, prepaid vouchers, and occasionally cryptocurrencies.
