63 winners share jackpot in S. Korean Lotto, most ever

This screengrab of the Donghaeng Lottery homepage shows the winning numbers, the number of winners, and the amount of winnings of the last week’s Lotto, announced on Saturday. (Donghaeng Lottery)

A total of 63 people won the jackpot in last week's South Korean Lotto, the highest-ever number of winners in its history, according to Lotto’s operators Donghaeng Lottery.

But the large number of winners means they will each receive the second-lowest jackpot winnings ever. The 63 winners will each take home 419.9 million won ($300,000), which is the second-lowest amount on record behind 400.09 million won in 2013.

The previous record number of winners was 50 in the 1,019th Lotto on June 12, 2022, with each claiming 438.5 million won ($317,000).

South Korea imposes a 33 percent tax on winnings exceeding 300 million won, and 22 percent below that. Prizes of 50,000 won and below are not subject to taxation.

The jackpot is very low compared to the average. According to the Korea Lottery Commission, an affiliate of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, 646 people won the jackpot in 2023, claiming an average of 2.1 billion won per person.

The report showed that 47 percent of the winners have said that they will tell their spouse about their win, while 29 percent said they will not tell anyone. About 35 percent said they would use their winnings to buy real estate, and 32 percent said they would settle their debts with the money.

According to Statistics Korea, 10.1 percent of all households in South Korea bought at least one lottery ticket in the first quarter of this year.

By Yoon Min-sik(minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)