Vietnam lottery firms eye new products amid harsh competition from computerized rival

While sales of traditional lottery tickets in Vietnam tend to climb towards the end of the rainy season, lottery companies in southern Vietnam have witnessed an opposite trend this year, with sales continuing to drop in December, according to Do Quang Vinh, chairman of the Southern Lottery Council.

Vinh attributed the plummet in traditional lottery ticket sales to the increasing popularity of the computerized Mega 6/45 lottery run by state-owned Vietnam Computerized Lottery Co. Ltd. (Vietlott).

The Mega 6/45 lottery came to public attention after its first jackpot winner bagged over VND92 billion (US$4.11 million) in prize money, followed by four multimillion-dollar jackpot wins in under a month.

Traditional companies in southern Vietnam have seen a drop of between three and over ten percent in their daily revenue and are facing the looming prospect of not being able to fulfill this year’s quota on state budget contribution.

According to Vinh, southern lottery companies are looking to build an official website to publish information on the companies’ business reports, jackpot wins, state budget contributions, and other charitable activities for the people to monitor.

In addition, the companies are also considering implementing new types of lottery games into their portfolio.

Administrators of the traditional lottery in southern Vietnam last month announced that it would next year raise its jackpot prize money to VND2 billion (US$89,300) from the current VND1.5 billion (US$67,000), a move considered its answer to stiff competition from Vietlott.

In the first nine months of 2016, lottery companies in southern Vietnam made over VND50.6 trillion (US$2.26 billion), nearly half of which (US$1.1 billion) was spent on prize payouts.