The honest guide · Mater Lotteries · Dream Home Art Union (RSL) · Endeavour Lotteries · Yourtown
How to Win a Prize Home in Australia: Odds, Tickets and What Actually Helps
Want to know how to win a prize home? There's no secret trick: every ticket is one equal chance, drawn at random. What you can choose is which draw your money goes into, and that changes your odds a lot. Right now the best odds for $100 are Endeavour 470 at 1 in 50,000, against 1 in 300,973 for Mater 328.
Start here
How a prize home draw works, from ticket to keys
A prize home draw is a charity lottery. The charity builds or buys a home, furnishes it, adds extras like gold or a car, and sells tickets to pay for it all and raise money for its cause. One ticket gets drawn. That's the whole thing, in four steps.
Pick a draw
Four big charities run prize homes: Mater, Dream Home Art Union (the RSL Art Union), Endeavour and Yourtown. Most homes are on the Gold Coast or Sunshine Coast, and each draw is open for a couple of months.
Buy on the charity's own site
Tickets cost $2 to $15 each depending on the charity. Bundles give you more tickets, and with most charities they also put you in a bonus gold draw.
Entries close, then the draw
Sales stop on the closing date, or earlier if every ticket sells. A few days later the winning ticket is drawn at random, under the charity's licence rules.
Someone gets the call
The winner is contacted, and the charity publishes the result on its website (usually just a first name, initial or suburb). See who won lately →
Picture this: your phone rings on a Tuesday morning. Unknown number. You nearly let it go to voicemail. Then a very cheerful person asks if you're sitting down... That's how every one of these stories starts.
The real odds
Which prize home gives you the best odds right now?
Your odds depend on one thing: how many tickets the draw allows, compared with how many you hold. Here's every open draw ranked by your odds for about $100 on the best bundle, using the ticket cap in each charity's official terms. The smaller the cap, the better your chances.
#1Endeavour LotteriesEndeavour 470
Mooloolaba, Sunshine Coast · $3.43M
Your odds for $100
One ticket: 1 in 1,500,000
#2YourtownYourtown 561
Buderim, Sunshine Coast · $2.88M
Your odds for $100
One ticket: 1 in 500,000
#3YourtownYourtown 562
Mermaid Waters, Gold Coast · $5.78M
Your odds for $100
One ticket: 1 in 750,000
#4Dream Home Art UnionDream Home Art Union 435
Palm Beach, Gold Coast · $14.7M
Your odds for $100
One ticket: 1 in 10,763,970
#5Mater LotteriesMater 328
Helensvale, Gold Coast · $7.1M
Your odds for $100
One ticket: 1 in 30,097,275
Odds assume every ticket the draw allows is sold; if fewer sell, your odds are better. Bigger prizes usually come with bigger ticket caps, so pick the draw whose home (and odds) you like best.Work out your odds for any amount →
Can you improve your chances? What helps and what doesn't
There's a lot of folklore about "winning strategies". Here's what's actually true, straight from how the draws work.
Picking a draw with a smaller ticket cap helps
This is the big one. A draw that allows 1.5 million tickets gives each ticket 20 times the chance of one that allows 30 million. Endeavour and Yourtown usually have the smallest caps; Mater and Dream Home Art Union the biggest prizes.
More tickets = more chances (exactly in proportion)
Ten tickets give you ten times the chance of one. No more, no less. Bundles can make each ticket cheaper and often add a bonus gold draw, but they don't bend the maths.
Buying early improves your odds
Your main-draw odds are the same on day one or the last night. Buying early only matters for early bird prizes, which are separate extra draws with their own closing dates.
A sell-out means better odds
It's the opposite. Our odds already assume every ticket sells. If a draw sells out, that worst case is exactly what happened. If it doesn't, your real odds were a little better.
Some numbers or shops are luckier
Ticket numbers are given out by the charity's system and the winner is drawn at random. Every ticket in the draw has the same chance, wherever and however it was bought.
Only Queenslanders win
Recent winners live in Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia too. See every recent winner →
Who runs the draws
The 4 prize home charities: Mater Lotteries, Dream Home Art Union (RSL), Endeavour Lotteries and Yourtown
Every draw on our site is run by one of these four. Win or not, your ticket money goes to a real cause, and that's the guilt-free reason plenty of people buy. Here's how each one works.
Dream Home Art Union
Your ticket helps RSL Queensland support veterans and their families. Still known to most people as the RSL Art Union.
- Tickets$5 or $10, depending on the draw
- How often6 prize home draws a year
- Bonus gold$10,000 to $100,000 for the winner, by bundle size
- HomesThe biggest packages, mostly Gold and Sunshine Coast
Mater Prize Home
Your ticket helps fund research, equipment and patient care at Mater. Mater Prize Homes have been running since 1954.
- TicketsFrom $2, the cheapest way in
- How oftenA new home about every 2 months
- Bonus gold$10,000 to $60,000 for book buyers, if they win first prize
- HomesGold Coast, Sunshine Coast and Bribie Island
Endeavour Lotteries
Your ticket helps people with disability, including Endeavour Foundation's inclusive jobs. It started in 1951 with a group of Queensland parents.
- Tickets$10 each, cheaper in bundles
- How oftenAbout every 2 months, drawn on a Thursday
- OddsUsually the smallest ticket caps of the four
- HomesMostly Sunshine Coast
Yourtown Prize Homes
Your ticket helps yourtown's services for young people, including Kids Helpline.
- Tickets$15 each
- How oftenA new draw every 5 to 6 weeks
- Bonus goldMultiChance: $20,000 for 2 tickets up to $150,000 for 15
- HomesGold Coast and Sunshine Coast
From each charity's official website and draw terms. Bonus offers can change from draw to draw. Compare the four side by side →
So you've won. Now what?
What happens if you win a prize home: live in it, rent it or sell it
The home is yours, fully furnished, usually with gold or a car on top. No mortgage. Not now, not ever. What you do next is completely up to you.
Move in and put the kettle on
Christmas lunch for 14 by the pool, the kids racing to the beach, coffee on the deck with no rent and no repayments. Sounds about right.
Keep it and let it pay you
Coastal prize homes can earn serious rent. Mater has estimated its Helensvale home 328 at about $182,000 a year, furnished. Our draw pages give each home's estimate where the charity publishes one.
Turn it into a fresh start
Upsize, downsize, help the kids into a place of their own, or buy closer to family. It's your call, not the charity's.
Do you pay tax on a prize home?
Generally, no. The ATO lists prizes from ordinary lotteries and raffles as amounts you don't include in your tax return. Rent you earn from the home later is income, though, and selling a home you don't live in can bring capital gains tax, so talk to an accountant before you decide. ATO: amounts you don't include as income →
What's covered, and what isn't?
Most prize packages include the furniture, and often legal transfer fees and council rates, but every draw is different. The prize list in each draw's terms spells it out, and our draw pages break it down line by line. After that, rates, insurance and upkeep are yours, like any home.
It can happen to anyone
Real winners, in their own words, from the charities' winner stories.
"It can happen to anyone and we are living proof of that!"
Kelly & Mick, Victoria · Yourtown 490
"This is more than life-changing."
Chris & Diana, Logan Village · Mater 323
"Honestly, it's disbelief mixed with excitement."
Mal, Sunshine Coast · Endeavour 467
"I didn't actually expect it to ever happen."
Kelly*, Greater Melbourne · Dream Home Art Union 433
How to win a prize home: your questions answered
The straight answers on odds, tickets, tax and what happens on draw day.
How do you win a prize home in Australia?
Buy a ticket in a licensed charity prize home lottery, like those run by Mater, Dream Home Art Union (the RSL Art Union), Endeavour and Yourtown, before entries close. After the closing date one ticket is drawn at random and wins the home. There's no skill involved: every ticket in a draw has the same chance.
Can you really win a house in Australia?
Yes. Every prize home draw has a winner: one ticket is drawn from the tickets sold and that person gets the home, fully furnished and with no mortgage. Between them, Mater, Dream Home Art Union, Endeavour and Yourtown give away more than 25 homes a year. The odds of any one ticket are long, so treat it as a donation with a dream attached.
Which prize home has the best odds right now?
For about $100 on the best bundle, Endeavour 470 has the best odds of the open draws at 1 in 50,000, then Yourtown 561 at 1 in 83,333. Mater 328 is 1 in 300,973. Odds come from each draw's maximum ticket limit and assume every ticket sells. Compare the odds for any amount.
Does buying more tickets improve my chances?
Yes, but only in proportion. Ten tickets give you ten times the chance of one ticket. Bundles can lower the price of each ticket and often add a bonus gold draw, but no bundle changes the odds of an individual ticket. Only spend what you'd be happy to donate.
Is it better to buy prize home tickets early?
Not for the main prize. Your odds of winning the home are the same whenever you buy before entries close. Buying early only gets you into early bird draws, which are separate extra prizes with their own earlier closing dates. Our draw pages show every early bird date.
Do you pay tax if you win a prize home?
Generally not on the win itself. The ATO lists prizes from ordinary lotteries and raffles as amounts you don't include as income. Rent from the home is taxable income, and selling a home that isn't your main residence can bring capital gains tax, so speak to an accountant before you decide what to do with it.
How much are prize home tickets?
Mater tickets start at $2, Dream Home Art Union tickets are $5 or $10 depending on the draw, Endeavour tickets are $10 and Yourtown tickets are $15. Bundles bring the price per ticket down with most charities, and our draw pages list every bundle from the official terms.
Can I win a prize home if I don't live in Queensland?
Yes. Most homes are on the Gold and Sunshine Coasts, but recent winners live in Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia too. Check each draw's terms for where tickets can be sold. See every recent winner.
Can you visit a prize home before the draw?
Often, yes. Charities sometimes open their prize homes for public viewing on set days while tickets are on sale; Mater has done this for its Helensvale homes. The days and times change with each draw, so check the charity's official site before you go. Our draw pages show the official photos of every room.
Are prize home lotteries legit?
Yes. Mater, Dream Home Art Union, Endeavour and Yourtown are long-running charities that run licensed lotteries, and each draw's terms show its licence number and how the winner is drawn. Buy only from the charity's official website. Win A Dream Home is an independent guide: we never sell tickets.
Never miss a closing date
Add every prize home closing date to your phone's calendar in one tap. New draws appear by themselves, and each date has a direct link to get tickets before it closes.
We never sell tickets. Every ticket link goes to the official charity site, and we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. 18+ only. Only spend what you'd be happy to donate. Need help? National Gambling Helpline 1800 858 858. Disclaimer and affiliate disclosure.