VAT lottery reaches stability point

By Kurt Sansone

The Public Lotto Department receives around 1,500kg of fiscal receipts every month to participate in the VAT receipts lottery and the amount has stabilised indicating that it is probably the same people who continue to send in their receipts month after month.

The receipts are not counted individually but the bulk weight is calculated and the most recent figure is that for November, when the public sent in more than 1,400kg of receipts.

The former director of public lotto Alfred Muscat, who now acts as an advisor to the department, told The Malta Financial and Business Times that he expects the weight for December to be slightly higher than the average due to the Christmas shopping spree, possibly around 1,600kg.

But drawing from years of experience with the department, Mr Muscat drew parallels between the fiscal receipt lottery and the Saturday lotto draw.

"The stabilisation of the amount of receipts received every month, which ranges between 1,400kg and 1,500kg, indicates that it is the same people who send in the receipts on a monthly basis. Those who have made it a custom to send in the receipts will continue to send them, while others cannot be bothered by the lottery. The same holds water for the lotto draw, where the average weekly sales for the department average Lm200,000, an amount which has been stable for quite some time."

The next VAT receipts lottery is due to be drawn on 15 January and the general public has until tomorrow to send the December fiscal receipts. Every month Lm25,000 in prize money is given away and the least amount to be won is Lm100 and the maximum amount Lm5,000.

Every month almost 50 people end up winning some form of cash prize and the simplicity by which punters can participate makes it a popular game indeed.