Our Luckiest Suburbs Revealed

Illawarra Mercury

Monday January 12, 2009

By BRETT COX

AFTER an Illawarra grandmother pocketed a record $16 million in the $2 Jackpot Lottery last September, there is no doubt that Warilla was the luckiest lottery suburb in the Illawarra for 2008.

An analysis of all major NSW Lotteries wins of over $5000 for the year showed the Shellharbour suburb easily pulled in the most winnings for lottery players, ahead of Keiraville, Dapto, Narooma and Albion Park.

All up, Illawarra lotteries players won $23.5 million in major prizes of more than $5000.

For Lotto, a specific lottery game, Keiraville, Nowra and Dapto were the luckiest suburbs from the region.

Dubbo was the luckiest regional town, pulling in $2.3 million in first division prizes.

Dubbo succeeded in taking the claim of Lotto's luckiest NSW regional town away from 2007's luckiest town, Mittagong, which didn't make the top 20 in the 2008 survey.

In the Sydney metropolitan area, Penrith took the mantle for the top winning suburb, clocking up $8.5 million in first division Lotto payouts.

But Christopher Hunt, a clinical psychologist from the University of Sydney's gambling treatment clinic, said there is no such thing as a lucky area.

Generally, higher payouts occur in bigger outlets and suburbs where more tickets are sold, he said.

"People think if they play the same numbers and buy a ticket every week, their numbers will eventually come up," Mr Hunt said.

"But the lottery balls don't remember which numbers came up the week before."

In lotteries, about 60 per cent of the money raised by ticket sales goes back into the prize pool.

John Leddan of Grove Cards and Gifts at Warilla Grove Shopping Centre, who sold the $16 million ticket, said customers still talk about the day the winning ticket was sold.

"For me personally, my wife yelled out when she found out we'd sold the winner and I thought there was an emergency or something," he said.

"It was a great thing for everyone in the area."

The winner of the prize, a Warilla pensioner in her 70s, has spread the winnings among family and friends, including relatives in England.

She still regularly shops at Warilla.

"She doesn't seem to have changed too much," Mr Leddan said. "She's an old style sort of widow who seems pretty set in her ways.

"I don't think it's dawned on her what she's done."

Ticket sales haven't been affected by the tough financial times.

"Things are probably a little bit better than this time last year," he said.

TABLE: LOTTO STATISTICS

© 2009 Illawarra Mercury

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