Give Lotto prize to Christchurch - group

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Despite calls for Lotto to cancel this week's $15 million draw and give the money to Christchurch, a spokeswoman for NZ Lotteries says it simply isn't legally possible.

"Call for NZ Lotteries Commission to donate this week's $12M [sic] to Christchurch" had 3001 people "like" the page at 10am - up nearly 1000 from three hours ago.

But a spokeswoman for NZ Lotteries says while they would love to help, they are legally required to hold this week's draw.

"We've been inundated with comments and emails and obviously social media's been very active. We would love to be able to help out but our Lotto game is governed by a very strict legal framework that sets out how it can be run and how prizes can be distributed.

"People have already legitimately purchased tickets for this week's draw and next week's draw because people do buy multi-draw tickets so it is simply not legally possible for us to change the rules of the game halfway through the game."

When asked whether the Government could change the rules under the national state of emergency provisions, the spokeswoman said this was a question that had to be directed to the Minister of Internal Affairs, Nathan Guy.

Guy is currently in Christchurch and has not yet responded to an interview request.

The Lotteries spokeswoman says they are considering everyone's suggestions and are looking at a way to help which is practical, and legally possible.

"We've had people that do understand we can't reassign the jackpot. I saw a comment on TradeMe last night where someone said 'what if someone in Canterbury had a ticket for this weekend's draw, wouldn't they feel upset at having their chance to win $15 million taken away from them?'."

Comments on the Facebook page almost unanimously support the idea of calling off this week's draw.

"Christchurch needs some help! It will cost billions to rebuild! So i dont see why they wouldn't give it to Christchurch, and if not, the winner should give it to Christchurch!" wrote Suzy Shaddix Dobier.

Nicole Hughes posted: "Potential winners of this prize will never miss what they didn't have.... Residents of Christchurch however, know what it is to loose [sic] everything. Lotteries commission, it is the communities [sic] money hand it over."

- © Fairfax NZ News