Lucky streak: Vietnam jackpot wins send ticket sales skyrocketing

By Ngoc Tuyen   November 23, 2016 | 06:07 pm PT
Lucky streak: Vietnam jackpot wins send ticket sales skyrocketing
Scene of a Vietlott's draw. Photo by Vietlott
Vietlott's sales revenue increased 4.6 times in less than two months.

Vietlott, the operator of an American-style lottery game, has posted a robust jump in sales recently after it announced four big winners within a month.

The company’s sales revenue rose 4.6 times in less than two months, to VND734 billion ($32.1 million) as of November 20, from just VND159 billion on September 30, Nguyen Thanh Dam, deputy director of the state-run company told a press briefing on Wednesday.

Sales from its major jackpot game, the Mega 6/45, were VND730.5 billion ($31.9 million), or 99.5 percent of the total revenue.

Vietlott has announced four jackpot winners since October 16 with total prizes worth VND284 billion.

In the latest draw on November 20, the company declared that someone had won VND56 billion, or over $2.5 million.

In January, Vietlott signed an exclusive 18-year contract with Malaysian conglomerate Berjaya to launch computerized lottery games.

The Mega 6/45 is the company's first foray into the market. Players select six numbers from 1 to 45 and win a jackpot that starts at VND12 billion ($538,000) by matching all six numbers from the draw. Each ticket costs VND10,000 (40 cents).

The jackpot prize will keep growing until there is a winner. The odds of winning have been estimated at around one in 8.14 million.

Vietnam generally does not allow its citizens to gamble, but lottery tickets are popular across the country.

Traditional lottery tickets in Vietnam have predetermined numbers printed on them, with the highest prize set at VND1.5 billion ($65,900).

Facing tough competition from Vietlott’s Mega game, the companies behind these traditional tickets have decided to raise the top prize by 33 percent to VND2 billion (more than $87,000), starting next year.

Vietnam's average annual income was around $2,100 last year, according to the World Bank.

Related news:

> Another lucky Sunday brings Vietnam's fourth jackpot winner

> $3 million richer: Vietnam has third jackpot winner in a month

> Vietnam lottery firms raise prizes to compete with American-style jackpot

 
 
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