This section refers to 'traditional' draw style lotteries offered by Australian lottery organizations. In this type of game, a set number of tickets - typically in the low six figures - are offered for sale in each draw. A set of numbers are then drawn (these days by a random number generator) and are awarded prizes, with many consolation prizes often offered.
New South Wales: Lucky Lotteries
Lucky Lotteries is the current brand name given to draw lotteries administered by New South Wales Lotteries. Currently, two lotteries are run under this name: the $2 Jackpot Lottery and the $5 Jackpot Lottery.
Tickets are only available via a "Auto Pick"-style allocation (ie. individual numbers cannot be selected), although those buying multiple tickets have the option of buying a sequential run of numbers or a random selection. Due to the high demand for draw lottery tickets (and the $2 Jackpot Lottery in particular), it is often the case that a ticket bought today will be for a draw a week or so from today, rather than for the next day. (This has led to New South Wales Lotteries adding disclaimers in recent years stating that any jackpot advertised may have been won by the time your lottery is drawn.) Draws are conducted at the New South Wales Lotteries offices in the morning, and winning numbers are published in some major papers and are available to claim the day after the draw.
In each draw, a first, second and third prize is drawn, as well as a number of smaller prizes down to $10.
A jackpot ticket number is then drawn, separately from the main draw. If the ticket number drawn matches a winning number exactly (one-offs do not count), then they win the jackpot; otherwise, that number wins 10 free tickets for an advance draw and the jackpot increments by a certain amount.
Queensland Casket: Casket (or the $2 Casket) is the name given to the draw lottery administered by Queensland's lottery operator, Golden Casket. The name of the game dates back to the first Queensland draw lotteries - with cash prizes originally prohibited by law, the first prize was awarded as a casket of gold valued at a certain amount, which was then immediately bought back from winners for its cash value.
Draws usually take place every six weeks approximately (the draw dates of which are fixed in advance), and a maximum of 110,000 tickets (at $2 each) are sold for each draw. Specific numbers can be selected by the player when buying a Casket ticket (as long as the number has not already been selected), or otherwise automatically allocated through a Quick Pick.
Each draw has a first prize of $100,000, and consolation prizes are drawn to as low as $5. There is no jackpot component.
Instants (Scratchies): Most Australian lottery companies offer "Scratchies" or instants which can be purchased at outlets. Player scratch and try to match numbers, complete puzzles or reveal codes to obtain a prize. Instants come in many varieties, usually at $1, $2, $3, $4, $5 and $10 prize levels
Superdraw: A Superdraw is the term given to a Saturday Lotto draw with a much larger guaranteed jackpot pool than usual. Members of the Australian Lotto Bloc use part of their revenue from normal weekly draws to fund these special draws, which occur seven times a year. In the days of the "Second Draw", Superdraw pools - like regular first division pools - were split evenly between the two draws (usually $8 million each at the time), however now all the funds are pooled into the one draw, resulting in a higher headline figure.
In recent years Superdraws have seen guaranteed First Division prize pools of around $20 million.
A Superdraw is supposedly better value for money; because the prize pool is greater than the relative odds and cost of entry.
