Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Dreams of big win fuel punter surge

Bay of Plenty Times
29 Aug, 2013 07:26 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Bayfair Lotto co-owner Maurice Parker is bracing for a busy two days ahead of tomorrow night's Powerball draw. Photo / George Novak

Bayfair Lotto co-owner Maurice Parker is bracing for a busy two days ahead of tomorrow night's Powerball draw. Photo / George Novak

Hopeful Tauranga punters are lining up for Lotto tickets ahead of this weekend's $20million Powerball draw.

But experts warn you're more likely to be attacked by a shark than find riches tomorrow night.

Bethlehem Four Square and Lotto owner Harpreet Gill said people had been queuing across his shop since it sold two $250,000 first division Lotto tickets last weekend.

And business was ramping up even more as tomorrow's $20million Powerball jackpot approached. "We're seeing a lot of new faces coming from new places ... they're coming a long way to buy tickets."

One Wellington woman had come into the shop especially to buy a ticket after seeing the shop in the news.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The surge in business had forced Mr Gill to call in extra staff.

Bayfair Lotto co-owner Maurice Parker has been steeling himself for a busy weekend. Punters have already been queuing up for tickets for the Powerball draw, but Mr Parker said Big Wednesday was also getting big and there was also a Father's Day promotion with the Triple Dip that was bringing in the customers.

"It will probably be busy right up until [tomorrow]. With Big Wednesday and Powerball large, there's a lot of money floating around out there ready to be taken - hopefully by me. I guarantee [tomorrow] we will be flat out.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"It has been much on par with other big draws so far."

Mr Parker said his customers were optimistic about their chances of winning.

Mount Paper Power manager Yvonne Retter said she would be keeping food under the counter to eat because she did not expect to have enough time for a proper lunch break. "Everyone likes to think they can win. Once it gets big like this, more people start coming in but it could be even bigger with Father's Day."

However, Associate Professor of Statistics at the University of Auckland Ross Ihaka said the odds of winning tomorrow's $20million windfall were 1 in 38 million. "A comparable event would be if you tossed a coin 25 times and it came up heads every time."

Discover more

Soccer: Tauranga shoot to third in the table

26 Aug 06:00 PM

Double joy for Lotto shop

27 Aug 12:05 AM

Lotto winner gobsmacked at $250,000 windfall

27 Aug 07:34 PM

To put that further into perspective, in the United States - which has the highest number of shark attacks worldwide - your chances of being attacked are 1 in 11.5 million.

But most people did not choose to focus on the negative, instead dreaming of all the things they could buy with the winnings, he said.

"Most of us aren't thinking about that low probability."

In New Zealand, a tax-free $20million winning Lotto ticket could get you 12 average-priced houses in Auckland's Herne Bay - the country's most expensive suburb - or 63 average-priced homes in Tauranga.

There was no way to play strategically, but choosing numbers no one else picked meant you wouldn't have to split the cash with other winners, Dr Ihaka said. "I just get a lucky dip because then it's going to be random."

Platform Trust chief executive Marion Blake said many people saw playing Lotto as an acceptable form of gambling because some lottery money funded community organisations.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"You'd buy your mum [a ticket] for Mother's Day. I've heard a lot of people say, 'I'm going to buy a Lotto ticket but it's like donating to the community'." The "good side" was that community organisations benefited significantly from lottery grants.

But buying Lotto tickets was still gambling, Ms Blake said.

"The odds don't matter to people. It's almost like everybody can see themselves as that shopkeeper in [Te Kauwhata]."

Feeling lucky?

*Figures from the NZ Lotteries Commission rated the Bayfair Lotto store as the region's luckiest last year, selling 51,224 winning tickets and paying out $905,460 in prize money.
*Mount Maunganui Lotto outlet Mount Paper Power also sold a winning $9.83million Powerball ticket this year.
*Nationally 24 Lotto millionaires were created last year.

- Additional reporting by Sonya Bateson

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Bay of Plenty Times

One taken to Tauranga Hospital after SH29 crash

12 Jul 02:27 AM
live
Bay of Plenty Times

Landslide sparks evacuations, roads closed, homes flooded after storm

12 Jul 12:43 AM
Bay of Plenty Times

'Some of the worst we’ve seen': Huge pile of concrete dumped illegally

12 Jul 12:00 AM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

One taken to Tauranga Hospital after SH29 crash

One taken to Tauranga Hospital after SH29 crash

12 Jul 02:27 AM

The crash at 5pm involved a car and a truck on SH29.

Landslide sparks evacuations, roads closed, homes flooded after storm
live

Landslide sparks evacuations, roads closed, homes flooded after storm

12 Jul 12:43 AM
'Some of the worst we’ve seen': Huge pile of concrete dumped illegally

'Some of the worst we’ve seen': Huge pile of concrete dumped illegally

12 Jul 12:00 AM
'Powerful example': Mum overcomes addiction to build a life helping others

'Powerful example': Mum overcomes addiction to build a life helping others

11 Jul 06:00 PM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP