The biggest single winner in a computerized lottery being launched tomorrow is likely to be the government, revenue projections show.
According to Taipei Bank, the lottery's organizer, total sales for the computerized lottery will reach NT$100 billion this year. That translates into NT$35 billion in profit, based on a 35 percent tax rate -- making the real jackpot winners the Taipei City and central governments.
"Thirty-five percent of the revenue generated from the lottery will be used for social welfare programs. If we can generate NT$100 billion in revenue, the government would realize NT$35 billion in total profits," Taipei Bank President Jesse Ding (丁予康) said.
The first lottery winner could win about NT$45 million by as early as next Tuesday.
Most players will simply make "contributions" to the lottery program, an economist said yesterday.
"The taxation on a lottery is a kind of soft tax or voluntary tax, instead of being mandatory -- such as income tax," said Yophy Huang (黃耀輝), an associate research fellow at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research.
Only those who voluntarily buy the lottery tickets will pay the tax, which are mostly middle to low-income earners. "The tax revenue will then be used to subsidize middle to low-income earners," Huang said.
Other big winners include companies involved in the lottery issuance operation. Acer Inc, parent company of Lottery Technology Service (
Taipei Bank, which received a lottery license from the Ministry of Finance, is going to make more than NT$500 million by January next year.
Taipei Bank won a contract to offer three different public lotteries over a five-years period, starting this month.
The share price of Taipei Bank rose NT$0.4 and closed at NT$27 yesterday. Acer Inc went down NT$1.1 to close at NT$21.5.
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.
The lottery is scheduled to go on sale starting tomorrow in thousands of retail locations, including gas stations, banks and video stores all over the country.
Meanwhile, only about 2,500 or about half of the 4,999 planned lottery sales outlets will be operational by tomorrow, according to Richard Yang (
"Technical problems, such as changes of address by vendors and Chunghwa Telecom (
A pundit said the lottery operation would be more efficient if the sales system was designed better.
"The sales outlets should be run by efficient corporations such as 7-Eleven as is done in other countries. Instead of physically challenged persons are attempting to handle the business," said Lee Tong-how (李桐豪), a finance professor at National Chengchi University.
The top priority for the computerized lottery should be to generate as much revenue as possible via ticket sales, he said. Then the higher tax revenue could be used to subsidize those who really need the funds. Since not every physically challenged person participates in the lottery operation, "the current system itself is not even fair in the first place," Lee said.
In response to Lee's criticism, Taipei Bank's Yang said, "The Legislative Yuan stipulated in the beginning that only physically challenged persons could get vendor licenses."
Pundits said that efforts to boost tax revenue should also include other banned activities such as gambling and prostitution.
"Many unavoidable sins such as gambling and prostitution should be regulated by the government in an open way. It could bring in tax revenue and help to stamp out illegal underground activities," Lee said.
"A proposal to set up casinos in Penghu County is the right way to satisfy the Taiwanese' obsession for gambling. Meanwhile, prostitution should also be legalized and put under government regulation. It's much better than letting it go underground. Many countries are doing it, why can't Taiwan?" he said.
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