Although Lotto tickets sold a record 6.2 trillion won last year, the average first-prize payout was in the 2 billion won range, marking the lowest level on record. The cumulative number of first-prize winners surpassed 10,000, reaching 10,153.

According to a Yonhap News report on the 2nd, last year’s Lotto sales (years tallied by drawing date) rose 4.6% from a year earlier to 6.2001 trillion won. Annual Lotto sales exceeded 6 trillion won for the first time last year, setting a new high since sales began in December 2002.

However, the average first-prize payout last year was only 2.06 billion won. Excluding 2002, that is the lowest amount on record.

Controversy over gambling intensity flared after a single first-prize winner on April 12, 2003 (19th draw) received 40.72 billion won, the highest on record. The average first-prize payouts in 2003 and 2004 were 6.17 billion won and 4.36 billion won, respectively.

In response, the government reduced the number of jackpot rollovers when there was no first-prize winner from three to two in 2003, and in 2004 lowered the price per game from 2,000 won to 1,000 won.

As a result, the average first-prize payout has been on a downward trend: 2.55 billion won in 2022, 2.37 billion won in 2023, and 2.1 billion won in 2024. However, the more participants there are, the higher the likelihood of winners. In fact, there were 812 first-prize winners last year, up from 763 a year earlier.

After taxes on the average first-prize payout of 2 billion won last year, the take-home amount is around 1.4 billion won. That falls short of last year’s average apartment sale price in Seoul. According to the ‘December Nationwide Housing Price Trends’ released by KB Real Estate, as of December last year the average sale price per apartment household in Seoul was about 1.5081 billion won. It has become difficult to expect a ‘life turnaround’ from a Lotto win.

In a survey last year by the Korea Institute of Public Finance of 5,000 adults aged 19∼64, 45.3% said they were satisfied with the Lotto first-prize amount, while 32.7% were dissatisfied. Those who were dissatisfied said the appropriate prize amount would average 5.22 billion won.

The total number of first-prize winners has reached 10,153, surpassing 10,000 for the first time. The total amount of prize money paid to them stands at 20.4715 trillion won. From the first draw through the 1,209th draw held on the 31st of last month, total Lotto sales came to 85.9456 trillion won.

The draw that produced the most first-prize winners was the 1,128th (held on July 13, 2024), when 63 people won, leaving about 420 million won per winner.