Increased Lotto Sales During Chuseok, Will the Prize Money Also Increase? "Shall We Match Numbers with Family?"

Looking at Past Cases, Holiday Lotto Prizes Are Higher
"Higher Sales Don't Mean Higher Prizes," a Reminder

During the Chuseok holiday, there is an analysis that lottery sales increase as people gift lottery tickets to family or acquaintances wishing them good luck, or enjoy matching winning numbers with family and relatives by purchasing lottery tickets. This also acts as a factor that raises the purchase rate as the lottery prize money tends to be higher than usual. In fact, during holidays such as Chuseok or year-end and New Year, many people who do not usually buy lottery tickets purchase them, allowing them to receive amounts higher than the usual first prize.

A lottery ticket store in Jung-gu, Seoul. The photo is not directly related to the content of the article.

On the 14th, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance’s Lottery Commission and Donghaeng Lottery stated that since the lottery price was lowered to 1,000 won in 2004 to prevent gambling addiction, the sales volume per draw has been about 100 million tickets. Assuming buyers select number combinations evenly and about 12 people win first prize per draw, the winning amount is generally determined around 2 billion won.

However, the pattern is somewhat different during holidays. In fact, the total sales amount for the 1106th draw (February 10) during this year’s Lunar New Year holiday reached 126.617296 billion won. This was about 10 billion won more than the 1105th draw (113.295292 billion won), the 1107th draw (117.664962 billion won), and the 1108th draw (114.578905 billion won) held before and after the holiday. As purchase demand increased, the prize money also grew. A total of 11 first prize winners each received 2.790428 billion won. After taxes, the actual amount received by each first prize winner was 1.919973 billion won.

Looking at the 1108th draw (February 24) held two weeks later, 14 first prize winners won 1.957985 billion won each, receiving an actual amount of 1.347069 billion won after taxes, indicating that those who won during the holiday period received about 400 to 500 million won more. Similarly, the second prize winnings for lottery tickets purchased during the holiday were higher than usual. There were 67 second prize winners in the 1106th draw, each receiving about 76.355948 million won. In the 1108th draw, 96 second prize winners received 47.590056 million won each. The second prize winnings during the holiday period were about 28 million won higher.

A representative from Donghaeng Lottery explained, "During Chuseok or year-end and New Year holidays, more people purchase lottery tickets than usual," adding, "Since lottery prize money is determined by the number of tickets sold and the number of winners, the total prize money increases as sales volume rises." However, he added, "As the number of winners increases, considering the equal distribution of prize money, the amount each winner receives may decrease. Therefore, an increase in sales volume does not necessarily mean the prize money will increase."