Lotterywest has announced a major financial boost to its Set for Life game, soon offering winners an upfront payment along with their monthly annuity.
From Monday September 14, Lotterywest will award an initial sum of $200,000 to new division one winners, complementing the $20,000 per month for 20 years they would already receive — with total prize money to equal $5 million.
Division two winners also stand to benefit, taking home an upfront pay cheque of $20,000, to go with $5000 a month for 12 months.
Hermione Scott, Senior Manager Media Communications at Lotterywest, said the prize enhancements come as a result of feedback from players who requested “greater flexibility, but immediate goals”.
“What that $200,000 upfront payment does, if you win division one, is it creates more flexibility, so our winners can get stuck into those home renovations, or book that dream holiday, or help out family now rather than later and having to wait,” she told PerthNow.
As part of its Linger on a Win campaign, Lotterywest designed an immersive space named Linger House to help West Aussies visualise what being Set for Life may look like. (This is not available to the public and is purely for promotional purposes).
Everyday experiences featured include a trip to the hairdresser, a pilates class, uninterrupted time to read, and arts and crafts.
In the last financial year, three West Aussies claimed Set for Life’s division one prize.
Requiring seven correct numbers, such a feat carries odds of one in 38,320,568.
Players must select six correct numbers plus the supplementary to bag division two, with odds of one in 2,737,184.
“We had a winner recently in Margaret River, she won division one, and she’s going to go part time (at work) and she’s going to do safari travels. Those are on her list,” Ms Scott said.
“And then we had another FIFO worker who’s just decided, nope, he’s going to retire, spend more time with family, and renovate his house and get stuck into it straight away.”
Much like larger prize pools for Saturday Lotto or Powerball, groups or syndicates for Set for Life are encouraged, though naturally yield a smaller prize sum split.
“You can play any way you like. We had a set of twins that won Set for Life, and they’re going to share the $20,000 a month — split it down the middle, so they each get $10,000 each a month.,” Ms Scott continued.
“You can definitely play Set for Life in a syndicate win, but it is more geared towards helping with those individual bills over a monthly period for 20 years — syndicate wins are more popular with our jackpots.”
Set for Life is a daily game with draws each day of the year.
Players are able to enter seven separate draws per week with one ticket.
While Lotterywest implements the changes, players will not be able to purchase a Set for Life ticket until after 7pm, September 13.
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