Government should think about to adding smaller lottery prizes such as K50 million prizes by chipping off from the grand jackpot prize, said MP Htay Oo of No.2 Constituency of Yangon Region Parliament in a parliament session held on December 7.

The MP raised a question whether the government has planned to take action on the raise prices made by the lottery ticket wholesalers or not and the state is losing monthly tax revenue due to the failure to increase the number of lottery tickets in a bundle of lottery tickets.

He continued by saying that the lottery ticket wholesalers see big profits as they only need to invest a small amount of money to buy lottery tickets. And people always buying the lottery tickets were not because they love playing the Aungbarlay State Lottery but at a chance at an exit from their struggling lives. The government should consider dividing up the jackpot prize of Ks 1 billion into smaller, numerous prizes in order for more people to have a chance at an income boost, also serving as an injection of sorts that will reduce the poverty in the country.

He suggested that the government should consider 20 lottery prizes benefitting 20 winners instead of just Ks1 billion going to a single person.

Maung Maung Win, Deputy Minister for Planning and Finance said, “The arrangement to give lottery prizes is not fixed. We gave one Ks1 billion prize, one Ks500 million prize and one Ks100 million prize. When people suggested us to add Ks300 million prizes, we added two Ks500 million prizes and two or three Ks300 million prizes. The numbers of prizes are not fixed and we can increase the number of prizes if needed.”

The deputy minister said the business of the Aungbarlay state lottery is not only intended for the state revenue but also to fulfill and assist the people.