A Unique Way of Playing the Lottery

"Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants."

-Epictetus

The Taiwanese lottery is different from most lottery is around the world. In the United States if you want to play the lottery normally you would go to a convenience store and buy a ticket but in Taiwan you play the lottery every time you go shopping! It doesn't matter if you are buying new clothes at a store or a pack of gum at the local 7-Eleven you are automatically playing the national lottery. Every receipt that you get from any purchase has an eight digit number that could allow you to win a lot of money but like playing any lottery your odds aren't great. 

On the 25th day of every odd month there are a series of winning numbers that are announced you can find the current numbers at this site.  The first prize is 10,000,000 NT (about $300,000 USD) and the second prize is 2,000,000 NT (about $60,000) third prize is 200,000 NT (about $300). There is also a small prize of 200 NT to be won if you match the last three digits of any of the winning numbers. Lastly if you can mach the last seven to four digits of the first prize you can win these amounts.

Last 7 digits = win 40,000  NT

Last 6 digits = win 10,000 NT

Last 5 digits = win 4,000 NT

Last 4 digits = win 1,000 NT

Last 3 digits = win 200 NT

Disclaimer: As noted on my last blog the Taiwanese government loves their taxes and there is no big surprise that you will be taxed 20% if you win anything over 1,000 NT.  

There is also one more tip about playing this lottery. It only works for the two months previous to whatever month it is right now. The lottery numbers were announced on the 25th of this month so these numbers are good for December and November. We made the mistake of mixing in our receipts that we had from this month and the rest of our receipts. So we had to be very careful to separate any receipts that were from January. I know it all sounds rather complex and it kind of is in my opinion. It was put in place to encourage people to keep their receipts for tax purposes. A good idea in my opinion and is one of the first times I've been careful to keep my receipts. Even though the majority of them are for groceries and cups of coffee.