THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Fortune seekers are making a beeline for this year’s Thiruvonam Bumper Lottery offered by the State Lotteries Department. Ticket sales commenced on July 27, and as of Friday, a staggering 17 lakh tickets have already been sold. This fortnight’s sales figure has surged by 36% compared to the previous year’s corresponding period, which saw 12.5 lakh tickets sold.
Palakkad emerged as the frontrunner in ticket sales, closely followed by Thiruvananthapuram. The annual Thiruvonam Bumper lottery captured national attention when the department boosted the first prize to an unprecedented Rs 25 crore, up from the previous year.
This jackpot is arguably the biggest in the country. The addition of one lakh extra prizes for the bumper flick this year likely contributed to the surge in sales.
The Thiruvonam Bumper now offers a total of 5,34,670 prizes, marking a notable increase of 1.36 lakh prizes compared to the previous year. The cumulative prize money reaches an impressive Rs 125.54 crore, with Rs 12.55 crore allocated for agents’ commissions. During the ticket launch, Finance Minister K N Balagopal said the augmented number of prizes aimed to enhance the ticket’s popularity.
In the year 2022, a total of 66,55,914 lakh tickets were sold, with the number of prizes amounting to 3,97,911. In the previous year, the second prize equated to Rs 5 crore for a single ticket. However, this time, the second prize has been set at Rs 1 crore, with 20 fortunate winners. Moreover, the third prize of Rs 50 lakh will also boast twenty winners, in contrast to the ten, third prizes of Rs 1 crore provided in the preceding year. Priced at Rs 500 per ticket, with an agent’s commission of Rs 97, the tickets will be distributed across ten series. The maximum ceiling for the number of tickets available stands at 90 lakh.
SECURITY MEASURE
The bumper ticket incorporates an additional security measure in the form of fluorescent ink printing. This innovative feature is aimed at deterring the circulation of counterfeit tickets. Moreover, it safeguards against the possibility of duping lottery agents through the production of high-quality photocopies of winning tickets. This security measure was initially introduced for the Thiruvonam bumper ticket in the preceding year, and notably, no incidents of fraud were reported following its implementation