The Sports Administration has postponed the date when people can start claiming sports vouchers for one week to provide time to add more businesses that would accept payments with vouchers to the program.
“Because the sports vouchers were warmly received by the public and business owners, we want to make sure that 4 million winners can conveniently use them to access a wider range of services and products, and that more interested business owners can be included in the program,” the agency said.
Winners whose identification numbers end in even numbers were supposed to be able to start claiming them yesterday, while those whose numbers end in odd numbers were to start claiming them today, with all winner eligible from Saturday onward.
Photo: CNA
However, the first day for claiming the vouchers has been pushed back to Thursday next week, for winners whose ID numbers end in even numbers, while those with odd numbers can start the following day, and all winners the day after that, it said.
Those people who collect their vouchers on Thursday and Friday next week can start spending them on Saturday, it said.
The vouchers would be valid to use from Saturday next week until Jan.31 next year, it said.
The agency’s announcement yesterday was the latest glitch in the rollout of its voucher program.
While the system was supposed to select 4 million people from nearly 7 million entries for the NT$500 vouchers, two were disqualified because their ID numbers end with letters, not numbers.
The agency said it has not decided whether to seek restitution from the contractor who designed the system.
However, from now until Thursday next week, it is going to be testing the operating system to ensure that all transactions involving the use of vouchers go smoothly, the agency said.
A list of all the businesses that have agreed to accept the sports vouchers can be found on a dedicated page on the agency’s Web site (www.sa.gov.tw).
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