$6M a week spent on Lotto

Press, 26 July 1989, Page 1

$6M a week spent on Lotto

PA Wellington New Zealanders spent almost $6 million a week on Lotto in 1988-89, according to the annual report to Parliament of the New Zealand Lotteries Commission. The report said the figure represented almost $2 million more per week spent on Lotto than for the 1987-88 year. Lotto had become firmly part of the New Zealand way of life with about 86 per cent of adults having played it and 69 per cent doing so monthly, said the report, tabled yesterday. It said Lotto was so popular that 1.1 million people watched the weekly Saturday evening draws on television to make it the highest rating programme. Lotto sales for 1988-89 reached $314 million, with $l9l million kept for prizes. The number of Lotto retailers increased from 441 to 475. It said Lotto had shown spectacular growth since its beginnings in July, 1987. But, the report said, the growth of Lotto could not continue at its present pace because New Zealand was already near the top internationally in terms of weekly sales per head of population. Each player spends on average $4.76 an entry — $l.BO per head of population. In New South Wales and Victoria, in Australia, weekly sales per head of population are $1.35 and $2.34 while in New York it is 98c.