NZ Lotteries is accused of ripping off its customers after an Instant Kiwi game was withdrawn without any of its $100,000 top prizes being won.
A Mosgiel woman contacted the Otago Daily Times after being told by the Crown entity it had withdrawn the Instant Kiwi $15 Christmas Gift game earlier this month, citing poor sales.
"This is a rip-off. They should be sold until they sell out or at least the big prizes have gone," the avid Instant Kiwi buyer, who declined to be named, said.
NZ Lotteries spokeswoman Karen Jones confirmed the Instant Kiwi game was withdrawn and less than half of the $2.9 million prize pool had been claimed.
The Instant Kiwis were withdrawn across the country on February 10, with stock sent back to Wellington to be destroyed.
There are three grounds on which NZ Lotteries may withdraw an Instant Kiwi game before all tickets are sold - when a game's final top prize is claimed, when stock has run out, or when sales for a game fall below an "acceptable commercial level".
Three prizes of $100,000, which has odds of one in 100,000, had not been claimed.
"It is unusual that this Instant Kiwi game was withdrawn with no top prizes being claimed, but it is not unprecedented.
"For integrity reasons, NZ Lotteries does not know where potentially winning tickets are distributed around our network."
Anyone with one of the Instant Kiwis had one year from the date the game closed to claim their prizes, she said.
"It is possible that some tickets have not been scratched by purchasers yet."
However that claim was rejected by the Mosgiel woman who said people did not leave un-scratched or prize-winning tickets lying around.
"This is a rip-off, plain and simple."
