Punters ditch Powerball, Oz Lotto on major jackpot miss

Australia's biggest lottery operator has recorded a slump in annual earnings after its popular Powerball and Oz Lotto jackpots didn't get the attention from punters it hoped for.

It was the first time in five years the Powerball jackpot failed to hit $100 million, The Lottery Corporation chief executive Wayne Pickup said.

And there was no Oz Lotto jackpot of $50 million or more for the first time in nine years.

"Financial year 2026 was a rarely soft year for big jackpots - a one-in-45-year outcome," said Mr Pickup, who has been in the job for nine months.

"The momentum in pricing, base game participation and digital share matters more to the long-term trajectory than what happens in any single period."

The Lottery Corp, which bills itself as a "place where Australians come to play", made a net profit of $284.6 million in 2025/26, down 22 per cent from the prior year.

Underlying earnings - before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation - was $736 million, a little below the market consensus, with the lotteries business delivering the bulk, or $627 million, followed by Keno earnings.

Revenue fell 2.7 per cent to $3.6 billion, after the absence of those large jackpots impacted revenue by about $350 million.

But some of that impact was offset by price increases after Lottery Corp raised the cost of a Powerball game to $1.40, from $1.20, which was its second increase in three years.

Still, fewer large jackpots translated to lower retail and digital platform lotteries turnover, corresponding to a three per cent fall to $6.5 billion.

The group believes there are more than four million unregistered players across Australia, which it hopes to convert to registered, as well as attracting new customers.

"We want people to come back more often, and not just to participate when there are large jackpots," Mr Pickup told an earnings briefing on Wednesday.

The group's shares rose by almost two per cent ahead of lunchtime to $5.41.

Asked about the consumer environment, in a time of rising living costs and interest rates, Mr Pickup said the company's gaming data wasn't giving it any cause for concern.