More than $195 million has been won in Otago through first division prizes in the quarter-century since Lotto's inception.
The first Lotto draw took place on August 1, 1987, and since then more than 300 million tickets have collectively generated more than $7 billion in prizes.
Of Otago's five districts, Dunedin city boasted the largest total winnings in the first division - more than $109 million - and Pak'n Save Dunedin was the region's only store to feature in the top 15 outlets nationwide for the number of winning first division tickets sold.
Of Otago's first division prizes, more than $30 million was won in the Waitaki district, $26 million in Clutha district, $19 million in Central Otago and $9 million in the Queenstown Lakes district.
Otago's first division tally was $195,365,000 as at July 29.
Tickets from Otago's top 10 Lotto outlets (for first-division prizes) generated more than $55 million for 103 winners.
Dunedin had five of the top stores, Oamaru three and Alexandra and Balclutha one.
The largest individual win in the region, and second-largest in the South Island, was $10,845,530 from a ticket sold at a Dunedin Paper Plus store in April 2010.
Hokitika New World sold the South Island's most lucrative ticket, worth more than $11 million, in November 2002.
A ticket sold in Milton in October 2006 was worth almost $7 million, and a Balclutha New World ticket sold in April generated more than $5 million.
The luckiest Lotto number was 1, having been drawn 257 times and a further 121 times in Strike, as well as 79 times in Powerball.
The odds of winning Lotto's first division, per line played, was one in 3.8 million.
New Zealand Lotteries has transferred more than $3 billion in profit to the New Zealand Lottery Grants Board, which funds art, sport, creative and community programmes throughout the country.
Major winners in the region included a Dunedin couple who had played the same Lotto numbers for more than 20 years, an Oamaru mother, a Dunedin family struggling with redundancy, and a Dunedin man who had just lost his job.
To celebrate Lotto's 25th birthday, each ticket bought between August 12 and 25 will be entered in a draw for an additional $8 million in prizes.
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