Lottery business revenue reaches record, over 153,000 billion VND

Revenue up 11% y/y in 2022

In a report sent to National Assembly deputies in preparation for the question-and-answer session at the National Assembly Standing Committee on March 18, Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc provided specific information about lottery business activities.

Mr. Phuc informed that lottery business is a conditional business. Accordingly, since 2007, the Government has issued a decree regulating lottery business activities under strict control of competent state agencies to ensure that it meets the entertainment needs of a segment of people with legitimate income and ensures social security, order and safety.

Only state-owned enterprises that have been granted a certificate of eligibility to conduct lottery business are allowed to organize lottery business activities.

To date, the country has 64 state-owned enterprises operating in the lottery business, including 63 lottery companies in 63 provinces and cities and Vietnam Computerized Lottery Company Limited (Vietlott).

In 2023, lottery business revenue will reach VND 153,037 billion, an increase of 11% compared to 2022. Of which, about 50% of revenue will be used to pay prizes, contributing VND 45,016 billion to the budget, an increase of 10.3% compared to 2022.

All lottery revenue is paid into the local budget and prioritized for investment in the fields of education - training, vocational training and health care.

The remaining amount is prioritized for implementing projects and investment projects on natural disaster prevention, climate change response, new rural areas and other important investment tasks subject to local budget investment.

This is an important source of revenue for the locality, especially the southern provinces, to implement the province's development investment goals.

Besides, lottery business also creates jobs for agents and lottery ticket sellers.

Traditional lottery in the South accounts for more than 93% of the market.

The Minister of Finance assessed that the lottery market has grown steadily, meeting people's entertainment needs, contributing to increasing budget revenue and creating jobs locally.

However, this business has some shortcomings and limitations, such as manual lottery products (traditional - PV) still account for nearly 96% of total revenue.

Besides, the development is uneven among regions when the traditional lottery market share in the South accounts for more than 93% of the national lottery market.

In addition, recently there has been a situation where some organizations and individuals have taken advantage of civil law to do business and distribute lottery tickets via electronic applications, the Internet, payment intermediaries...; some lottery agents have forced street ticket sellers not to return unsold tickets.

To overcome the above limitations, last January, the Ministry of Finance submitted to the Government a draft decree to replace Decrees No. 30 and No. 78 on lottery business.

The content aims to modernize lottery activities and increase transparency in lottery business.

At the same time, the Ministry of Finance will strictly handle cases of taking advantage of the law to conduct business and distribute lottery tickets in violation of the law, in order to protect the rights of players.