About Us
Lotteries in Australia include various lottery related products licensed by the Lott and Lotterywest Australian lottery companies. Lotteries operators are licensed at a state or territory level, and include both state government-owned, not-for-profit and private sector companies. Most major Lotteries have now moved into the online marketplace.
State government-owned corporations were once a major sector in the industry. However, with Tatts taking over operation of all state-owned lotteries apart from Western Australia (though the states still retain legal ownership), the only remaining state owned-and-operated lottery in Australia is Lotterywest in Western Australia.
Tattslotto, which was the first of its type in Australia, was originally based on the European style 6-from-49 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 increase 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 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.