Daily Lotto sales hit record high in 2020 amid Covid-19 economic fallout

[Graphics by Song Ji-yoon]

Daily lottery sales in South Korea reached an all-time high in 2020 as the country falls into its deepest recession since the 1997-1998 financial crisis the due to Covid-19 outbreak.

Daily sales of the national lottery Lotto are estimated to have reached 1.3 billion won ($11.8 million) last year, with 12,978,093 tickets sold on average, according to the preliminary data obtained by Choo Kyung-ho, a lawmaker from the main opposition People Power Party, from the Ministry of Economy and Finance on Thursday.

Both of the sales volume and the number of tickets sold hit a record high since Lotto was first issued in December 2002.

Daily Lotto sales exceeded 10 billion won for the first time in 2017 at 10.4 billion won. The figure has been growing steadily since then, to 10.9 billion won in 2018 and 11.8 billion won in 2019.

The highest daily sales volume was recorded at the 943rd session from Dec.20-26, with more than 181 million tickets worth 100 billion won sold.

There were 525 top prize winners of Lotto last year who won combined prize money of 1.13 trillion won.

The number of the second-place winners was 3,428 and third place 131,430.

An official from the finance ministry said Lotto sales has been rising and the final tally is expected to come out in March.

[¨Ï Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]