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Bank unveils lotto terminal

The Altura terminal is a computerized lottery machine that will be used as part of a new numbers lottery. PHOTO COURTESY OF TAIPEI BANK

Taipei Bank (台北銀行) yesterday unveiled its first computerized lottery system terminal, part of a government plan to launch a numbers lottery next January.

The Altura terminal, designed by the US company GTECH, is the first of a network of nearly 5,000 computer terminals that the bank plans to set up around the country.

"The computerized lottery will be available by next January," said president of Taipei Bank Jesse Ding (丁予康).

The idea -- based on the US lottery system -- allows participants to enter a six-digit number of their own choosing, or they can have the computer select a number for them.

If all six digits match the winning number, the participant wins the jackpot. The chances of winning are estimated to be one in 5.3 million, and the grand prize of up to NT$50 million will grow in size if there is no winner for a few weeks.

"The Ministry of Finance might set a ceiling for the jackpot," Ding said.

The computerized system is said to be different from the current "2-in-1" instant lottery and the invoice lottery in that the winnings will be cumulative. Any prize money not collected during a given week will be rolled over to the following week. So despite its decreased odds, the computerized lottery is expected to be more enticing than the 2-in-1.

The bank reportedly envisions weekly drawings. At the time of the drawing, 42 balls representing potential numbers will be scrambled in a machine. Six of the balls will then be drawn at random to produce the winning numbers.

The government sees the venture as an opportunity for big profit.

"Thirty-five percent of revenue generated from the lottery will be used for social welfare programs. If we could generate NT$100 billion in revenue [in the next few years], the government could get NT$35 billion from it," Ding said.

The computer terminals will be set up in two stages, Taipei Bank said in a statement.

The Lottery Technology Service Corp (樂彩公司), Taipei Bank's partner in the venture, will first set up sales sites in branches of Taipei Bank, Hua Nan Commercial Bank (華南銀行), Chang Hua Commercial Bank (彰化銀行) and several credit cooperatives in Kinmen (金門) and Matzu (馬祖). The number of terminals established during this first stage will be around 150.

In the plan's second stage, "the total number of terminals, currently set at 4,999, will be set up according to the application needs of distributors," said Richard Yang (楊瑞東), vice president and general manager of Taipei Bank's lottery department.

"The GTECH's computer lottery system is a hacker-proof system," said Theresa Sun (孫德萍) Lottery Technology Service's director of public relations. The company is a joint venture of GTECH and Acer.

The computerized lottery will replace the traditional lottery. The Taipei Bank will give priority to Aborigines, single parents and the disabled when it hires people to man the booths.
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