When I asked my 17-year-old son to pick up a couple of Instant Kiwi tickets for me at the supermarket when he was getting my other shopping, the Lotto outlet refused to sell him the tickets as he wasn’t 18. This surprised me. I often get the same son to buy our Lotto tickets at a different Lotto shop and he has not had a problem. Do supermarkets have different rules to Lotto shops?
No, it’s nothing to do with supermarkets. You cannot, by law, purchase Instant Kiwi tickets anywhere if you are under the age of 18. But you can buy Lotto tickets at any age. The reason for this is that it was assumed teenagers would find Instant Kiwi more tempting, because of the immediate nature and frequency of the payout. And it was also thought there might be a tendency for teens to buy more and more tickets if the first one or two didn’t result in a win, so they brought in the age limit.
I suppose it’s a way of protecting the impulsive nature of youth. There is no way for the outlet to know your son was buying the Instant Kiwi tickets for you. For similar reasons, under-18s cannot bet on horses at the TAB either. And while you can buy Lotto tickets at any age, any player under 18 claiming a prize of more than $1000 must complete a parent/guardian Acknowledgement Form.
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