Vietnam traditional lottery to raise jackpot as computerized rival announces third winner
Administrators of the traditional lottery in southern Vietnam will next year raise its prize money amidst stiff competition from a new computerized lottery, which on November 13 announced its third jackpot winner in four months.
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The new top prize is a 33-percent increase from the current VND1.5 billion ($67,000), which has been in place since 2011.
However, the second and special bonus prizes of the traditional lottery will be reduced by 25 and 50 percent respectively to make up for the increase. Their current values are VND20 million (US$900) and VND100 million (US$4,500) respectively.
The remaining runner-up prizes of the traditional lottery will remain the same.
The move by the southern lottery companies is seen as an answer to combat the rising popularity of computerized lottery ‘Mega 6/45’, which was introduced in July by state-run company Vietnam Computerized Lottery Co. Ltd. (Vietlott).
The ‘Mega 6/45’ jackpot starts at VND12 billion (US$536,000), and is rolled over if no winner is found.
The introduction of the computerized lottery has hit traditional lottery companies hard, as one operator in the Mekong Delta region reported a VND4 billion (US$179,080) drop in revenue over the course of a single issuance at the beginning of November.
While traditional lottery companies are struggling to maintain their share of the lucrative lottery market, Vietlott found its third ‘Mega 6/45’ jackpot winner on Sunday, their second this month.
The lottery’s 51st draw on Sunday evening produced a jackpot combination of 11-23-25-34-36-45 and found a winner, according to an announcement by Vietlott. But the identity of the winner has yet to be determined.
Sunday’s jackpot of over VND71 billion (US$3.17 million) had accumulated after five draws without a winner since November 2, when a ticket holder from Dong Nai Province claimed nearly VND65 billion (US$2.9 million) pre-tax in the lottery’s 46th draw.
The jackpot for the next ‘Mega 6/45’ draw this Wednesday will be reset to VND12 billion, Vietlott confirmed.
Last month, a farmer from the Mekong Delta province of Tra Vinh became ‘Mega 6/45’s’ first jackpot winner, capturing a record VND92 billion ($4.11 million) pre-tax from the 39th draw on October 16.
The Vietnamese law requires that a jackpot winner pay a 10% tax.
In the face of stiff competition from the computerized lottery, the Southern Lottery Council, whose 21 members have announced plans to increase their jackpot, have filed a formal request to the Ministry of Finance asking for the rectification of violations by Vietlott.
According to the request, Vietlott has violated multiple laws and regulations in advertising and issuing its ‘Mega 6/45’ lottery, including the pre-printing of lottery tickets to be sold in a similar manner to traditional lottery tickets, which are printed out in advance.
Vietlott is only licensed to sell tickets directly to buyers through machines after the buyers have chosen a combination of six numbers by themselves.
Vietlott CEO Tong Quoc Truong responded to the complaint by issuing a letter instructing lottery agents to adhere to state regulations.
The computerized lottery ‘Mega 6/45’ was introduced as a result of cooperation between Vietnam’s state-run lottery company Vietlott and an indirect subsidiary of Malaysia-based firm Berjaya Corp Bhd (BCorp), which was granted an 18-year investment license to operate the computerized lottery in the country in January.
As the name suggests, buyers of the lottery select any combination of six-numbers between 1 and 45 for VND10,000 (US$0.45).
The jackpot combination is randomly selected every Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday at 6:00 pm, and rolled over into the next lottery period should no winner emerge.
Apart from the jackpot, bonus prizes of up to VND10 million (US$446) are awarded to those with three, four, or five numbers matching the jackpot combination.
