Taiwan Lottery to boost jackpot by NT$200m

Taiwan Lottery Co (台灣彩券公司) announced yesterday that it would add an extra NT$200 million (US$6.24 million) to the Super Lotto (威力彩) jackpot tomorrow as part of its Lunar New Year promotion. The grand prize is expected to top NT$350 million tomorrow, a company executive said.

Taiwan Lottery launched the Super Lotto game on Jan. 22, with the main attraction being a guaranteed jackpot of at least NT$250 million, compared with Big Lotto's (大樂透) NT$100 million. Furthermore, the grand prize rolls over until someone hits the jackpot.

"The Taiwanese tradition of gambling during the Lunar New Year holidays has helped to increase the popularity of our lottery games," company chairman Oliver Shang (尚瑞強) said.

As no one has won the jackpot in the four drawings since the Super Lotto's implementation, the grand prize had grown to NT$90 million as of Monday.

"We expect that adding NT$200 million to the jackpot on Thursday will help boost our tickets sales for that draw to NT$200 million," Taiwan Lottery senior vice president Phyllis Hung (洪秋萍) said.

Super Lotto's sales for the previous draw were NT$90.77 million, up 10 percent from the third round's NT$82.51 million.

"Normally it takes between seven and eight drawings for a new lottery game to become popular. But our ticket sales have been better than we expected," Hung said.

Taiwan Lottery launched another service yesterday enabling busy customers to pacify Taisui (安太歲) by lighting lanterns at the Zhinan Temple (指南宮) in Taipei's Wenshan (文山) district without actually visiting the temple. Customers will be charged NT$1,200 per lantern at any of the company's 4,000 lottery stalls nationwide.

The ritual of pacifying Taisui is believed to bring good luck for the new year.

"The inspiration for the new service came from our observation that lottery games and temples have a close relationship, as a lot of winners say they chose their lottery numbers by praying to a deity," Shang said.