The biggest lottery jackpot in Australia's history is up for grabs tonight, prompting calls for punters to be reminded of the odds they face and the risks associated with gambling.
Lotterywest estimates half of Australian adults have bought a ticket for Thursday night's $200 million Powerball draw, a new Australian jackpot record reached because there have been no division one winners for six weeks.
While it's cause for excitement for many, one mathematician is unfazed.
Melbourne University professor Peter Taylor says the odds of winning division one Powerball are more than 134 million to one, based on a single game entry.
"You're actually far more likely to die unexpectedly before the end of the day than you are to win the lottery," he said.
He said the chances of winning big are probably worse due to the large amount of prize money.
"So what happens when a big jackpot happens is it attracts a lot more people to buy tickets, which increases the probability of you having to share the prize with a bunch of people," he said.
In the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, Professor Taylor said it was important to be mindful about buying tickets.
"If you can afford it, and if it gives you entertainment, or it gives you some other value, then fine," he said.
"The overall likelihood is they're going to waste their dollar, which of course, is only going to exacerbate their cost-of-living crisis."
Community benefits overstated, says expert
Curtin University gambling researcher Louise Francis said playing lotto was often viewed as a positive contribution to community life.
"But we know that what's been given back to the community is not that great, and it's a very expensive way to accommodate community, infrastructure and donations," she said.
Ms Francis said lotto was often viewed as less harmful than other forms of gambling.
"It's often normalised — it's seen as a game rather than gambling, which can be a problem.
"The ability to buy tickets online 24 hours a day has only exacerbated the problem."
Ms Francis said it was often society's most financially vulnerable people who were most tempted by the riches on offer.
"We also know that generally lotto is appealing to people that potentially have the least money to outlay for purchasing lottery tickets," she said.
"So we know that low-income individuals are spending a lot larger share of their incomes on lotteries than people with higher incomes."
Some winners 'end up penniless'
Ms Francis said the focus was often on high-risk gamblers, but Curtin University research had shown the one in three Australians who regularly bought lottery tickets were also at risk.
"Those harms can impact on the individual, but also can be wide-ranging to [include] family and friends, there can be financial losses and relationship breakdowns, job losses, issues with not being able to function and health issues," she said.
"And while we can say lotteries are less harmful, in some cases, they're not benign and we need to be aware that they can cause problems for people."
Financial planner David Sharpe said many people had won millions in lotteries around the world, only to fritter the money away.
"A significant proportion actually end up penniless by the end because they go on a massive spending spree thinking that [windfall] can sustain that forever," he said.
"Often it's people who have not had experience managing money — they get it for the first time and have not actually had the experience or the skill set to better manage it."
Financial support offered
Lotterywest media spokesperson Sarah Dawson said the largest win in WA was an $80 million prize claimed by a group of 55 women from a northern suburbs gym.
She said a win would be a life-changing event, and the organisation did offer help in seeking financial advice.
"It's super exciting to hear their stories, everything from someone wanting to replace their gutters right through to early retirement, big holidays, but most of all they just want to share the prize with their family and close friends," Ms Dawson said.
Ms Dawson said it takes about 14 days from the date of the draw for the funds to be transferred to the winner's bank account.
"We do provide [winners] with a booklet with information about where to seek independent financial advice to make sure that they are supported in making the right decisions with their win.
"Lotterywest is the only government-owned and operated lottery in the country. All available profits from ticket sales goes right back into the community.
"This jackpot run so far has raised $27.5 million for Lotterywest grants programs.
"Lotterywest supports grants big and small, from a few thousand dollars for a local community group right up to recently $3.2 million over the last few years to support Fringe festival.
"This week, Lotterywest delivered a $5.2 million grant to the WACA ground redevelopment — that's around creating an all-abilities playground to ensure the new WACA ground is accessible for everyone to enjoy."
But Ms Francis said it was time to re-examine the community funding model exemplified by Lotterywest in WA, where the money raised from lotto tickets was reinvested in community programs.
"We need to make sure that gambling remains not [something] governments use as an excuse to give back to the community and to identify how we can return and support communities without using gambling revenue in that process," she said.
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