Aung Bar Lay state lottery sales drop about 70% in Arakan State

By Admin 19 Sep 2023

DMG Newsroom
19 September 2023, Sittwe

Sales for the Aung Bar Lay state lottery in Arakan State have dropped by about 70% since the Myanmar military seized power in a February 1, 2021, coup, lottery ticket vendors say.

Lottery ticket agents used to be able to make a living by selling lottery tickets alone, but currently, due to the decline in sales, some people have left the lottery sales business altogether, and others are in a situation of suspending their businesses.

“If we continue in this way, it will be impossible for us to survive. There are many people who have had to stop working as lottery ticket agents,” said Ko Thar Gyi, a lottery wholesaler from Shwe Myanmar lottery shop (Sittwe branch).

In order to boost the declining lottery sales, the military regime decided to sell lottery tickets online. In the online lottery sales system, a person can open an account on the online lottery application and draw the numbers of their choice at a rate of K1,000 per lottery ticket.

Lottery sales agents say that the Department of Internal Revenue is directly dealing with the online lottery sales system, which could cause more trouble for lottery dealers.

“I used to sell about K50 million worth of lottery tickets per month, but now my sales have dropped significantly to about K10 million per month. What’s worse is that the online lottery has appeared recently, so people who are going to try the lottery will be fooled,” said U Tun Tun, owner of Shwe Myanmar lottery shop.

The Aung Bar Lay state lottery tickets are the same for the printed lottery and the online lottery, but because the printed lottery is distributed and sold through agents, depending on the cost of transportation, each lottery ticket is sold for K1,100 to K1,500.

The NLD government was able to set the lottery prize money at K1.5 billion and increase the circulation of lottery tickets to 44 letters with 6 digits per letter.

People have had less interest in the state lottery as the top prize was reduced from K1.5 billion to K500 million.