It was early Monday morning, 10 August 1931, when people began to assemble on the footpath outside the Savings Bank Building on Castlereagh Street in Sydney. 

Each person in line was eager to be among the first to purchase a ticket in the new State Lottery draw and be in with a chance to win one of the 814 available prizes, ranging from £5 to the much-anticipated top prize of £5,000 (worth approximately $460,000 in today’s currency). 

At 10am, the doors opened and the crowd surged forward. In just two days tickets had sold out and the first draw took place on 20 August 1931 at Her Majesty’s Theatre, Pitt Street- 88 years ago today!

It was a dream came true for the first draw’s winner, a Manly woman called Eileen Morton. A week earlier she had taken the ferry to the city and joined the end of the queue that stretched for three blocks so she could buy a ticket in the lottery. 

Mrs Morton won the first prize of £5000 with a ticket she shared with her grandmother. With the prize money, Mrs Morton and her husband, Jim, built a house and had enough left over to take a cruise to Fiji. 

Eighty-eight years later, this raffle style draw, now known as Lucky Lotteries, continues to make dreams come true every week! While the game started in New South Wales, it has since expanded to all Australian states and territories (excluding Western Australia). 

Every Lucky Lotteries draw guarantees over 10,000 winners. It has 10 Cash Prize levels and 10 Consolation Prize levels, plus the chance to win the all-important jackpot! 

Despite getting up there in age, Lucky Lotteries is showing no signs of slowing down and is currently smashing jackpot records, with the Mega Jackpot jackpot prize currently offering over $93 Million. 

This is the biggest jackpot Lucky Lotteries has seen in its 88-year history!

We are so excited to see where Lucky Lotteries takes us in the future and to crown many more winners all across Australia. 

Happy birthday Lucky Lotteries. You’re now 88 years young!