"How to Turn Your Life Around with 300 Million Won?"... 63 Lotto First Prize Winners, Record High 'Mixed Emotions'

Since the Start of Lotto Issuance in 2002, Record High Number of Winners
Each Scheduled to Receive 419.93 Million KRW

In the Lotto lottery draw, a staggering 63 first-place winners emerged. This is the highest number ever since the Lotto was first issued in December 2002. However, due to the unprecedented number of winners, the prize money per person is expected to decrease significantly.

The Lotto operator, Donghaeng Lottery, announced on the 13th that the winning numbers for the 1128th Lotto draw were 1, 5, 8, 16, 28, and 33. The second-place bonus number was 45.

There were 63 first-place winners who matched all six winning numbers. Among them, 11 were quick picks, and 52 were manually selected.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The previous record for the most winners was 50 in the 1019th draw held on June 12, 2022. In the 1057th Lotto draw in March last year, there were 664 second-place winners, which sparked controversy over possible manipulation.

At that time, the Ministry of Economy and Finance's Lottery Commission, based on reports from the Korea Information and Communication Technology Association (TTA) and Seoul National University’s Statistical Research Institute, stated that “the lottery balls are rapidly mixed by air and seven balls are randomly drawn through the extraction port at the top of the drawing machine,” adding that “it is impossible to draw desired numbers.”

This time, each winner will receive 419.93 million won. Since there are so many winners, the prize money has decreased, and after taxes, the actual amount received is only 314.35 million won. In the previous draw, there were 12 first-place winners, each receiving 2.26789 billion won before taxes.

However, this does not mark the lowest prize ever. The smallest first-place prize to date was in the 546th draw on May 18, 2013, when 30 winners each received 409.54 million won.