Lottery Sales Surge in Times of Coronavirus
31 October, 2020
The coronavirus epidemic has sent lottery ticket sales soaring, as is usual in dire financial times.
Based on the Ministry of Economy and Finance, lottery ticket sales through the first six months of the year totaled a record W2.6 trillion, up 11.1 percent on-year (US$1=W1,135).
Jang Seok-man (54), who sells lottery tickets in central Seoul, had the quantity "7706" written on a paper chit he handed to a person on Tuesday. "That is the number of tickets I sold up to now this week," he said.
Concurrently the following day, the tally had soared to 14,003. Jang said he normally sells 40,000 lottery tickets by 8 p.m. on Saturdays when the week's sale ends.
A lottery ticket costs W5,000 and his store makes more than W200 million. "Weekly sales have increased between W10 million to W20 million on-year," he said. "The amount of customers starts to go up slowly but surely from Wednesdays and usually peaks on Saturdays, but nowadays customers even pile in at the beginning of the week."
People imagine instant riches when the economy is bad. One 33-year-old hospital worker has been buying lottery tickets in Incheon weekly over the past half a year. He heard rumors that a particular store has sold several winning tickets. "EASILY win the lottery, I plan to pay off my mortgage debt first," he said.
For Hyeong Nam-song (58), who lives in a northern suburb of Seoul, this is a little escape from reality. "Doing this makes me happy weekly," he said. "This is exactly what keeps me going."
Another 28-year-old who found buy a ticket said, "Many people have lost jobs because of the coronavirus epidemic. Buying lottery tickets and daydreaming give me some comfort, whether or not just for a moment."
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