Taiwan Lottery Co on Monday added a NT$200 million (US$6.38 million) bonus to the Super Lotto jackpot, part of record potential winnings aimed at attracting participants in its Lunar New Year scratch cards and lotteries.
Taiwan Lottery first announced the record amounts on Jan. 16, the first day its five new lottery scratch cards went on sale.
The new scratch cards, designed for the upcoming Year of the Dragon, boast payouts of more than NT$19.9 billion.
Photo: CNA
The NT$2,000 “Super Red Envelope” (2,000萬超級紅包) scratch card has eight top prizes of NT$20 million, up from seven offered for the Year of the Rabbit last year, Taiwan Lottery said.
About 69.34 percent of the NT$2,000 scratch cards — the most expensive of the Year of the Dragon cards — have a prize of at least NT$1,000, although the chances of winning a prize greater than NT$2,000 (from NT$5,000 to NT$20 million) was 10.3 percent, the company said.
The nearly 10 million cards also include 10 second prizes of NT$2 million plus a chance to win a 2024 Mercedes-Benz GLA180 sports utility vehicle, as well as 1,000 third prizes valued at NT$1 million each.
The other four scratch cards include the NT$500 “Golden Dragon Awards” (金龍獎) card, the “Fortune of the Gold Dragon” (金龍報喜) and “Lucky Red Envelope” (幸運紅包) cards — both sold for NT$200 each — and the NT$100 “Every Dragon Wins” (攏好運) card.
To celebrate the Year of the Dragon, which represents good fortune because of its status as the only mythical beast in the Chinese zodiac, the company has made the Golden Dragon Awards card a guaranteed win, with a prizes of NT$100 to NT$3 million, although only 14.4 percent of the cards would offer a prize exceeding NT$500 (from NT$600 to NT$3 million).
The five new scratch cards, to be sold until July 16 or while stocks last, offer 23.47 million prizes with a combined jackpot of more than NT$19.9 billion, the highest in the company’s history, Taiwan Lottery said.
It is also adding NT$970 million in prize money to the jackpots of several of its regular lotteries, including NT$200 million for the Super Lotto jackpot.
Because the addition is the biggest jackpot increase in seven years, major lotteries such as Lotto 6/49, Super Lotto and BINGO BINGO would boast much larger jackpots than last year, the company said.
The additional prize money for Lotto 6/49 can be won in two different ways.
The first way would be through a daily draw for 19 consecutive days from Tuesday to Feb. 24, the longest period that a daily draw has been held in the lottery’s history.
The draw for Lotto 6/49, in which lottery ticket buyers have to pick six numbers drawn from 49 numbers, is traditionally held every Tuesday and Friday.
The second way to win the bonus would be through special draws held from Tuesday to Saturday.
For the special draws, people with six of the nine winning numbers drawn would receive NT$1 million or share the prize money with the other winners who selected the same winning numbers.
If the special draws fail to generate enough winners to collect the total prize amount of NT$360 million by Saturday, Taiwan Lottery would continue to hold the draws until Feb. 24 to fully distribute the amount, it said.
From Friday last week to Sunday next week, Taiwan Lottery would offer seven times the buyer’s bet, up from the usual six times, as prize money for BINGO BINGO, in which ticket buyers bet on a big or a small number, or an odd number or an even number being drawn.
The 17-day duration of those drawings is also the longest that game has been played, the company said.
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