Taipei: Taiwan Lottery Co. announced Tuesday that the total jackpot for its scratch cards launched for the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday will exceed NT$39.9 billion (US$1.26 billion). This marks a record high for the Lunar New Year period in Taiwan.
According to Focus Taiwan, the announcement came as the company unveiled five new scratch cards, bringing the total number of Lunar New Year-themed scratch cards on offer to 15 ahead of the nine-day holiday starting February 14. To promote the new releases, Taiwan Lottery introduced a new mascot group named Hachumi, which consists of two characters-one inspired by a black-billed magpie and the other modeled on a leopard cat.
Hachumi is featured on one of the five new scratch cards. The other four new titles are "Double Your Bonus," "Good Luck Comes After Another," "Push Gold Coins," and "God of Fortune Has Arrived," according to the company. Taiwan Lottery stated that the five new cards are priced between NT$100 and NT$500 per ticket, with a top prize of NT$5 million. Collectively, they offer more than 12.20 million winning tickets and total prizes exceeding NT$4.7 billion.
Speaking at a news conference, Kao Jen-chieh, vice executive president of CTBC Bank-which has commissioned Taiwan Lottery to issue lotteries in Taiwan for about 20 years-mentioned that the mascot designs are meant to appeal to younger consumers and help broaden the lottery's player base. In total, the 15 scratch cards offer more than 1,479 prizes worth over NT$1 million each, Taiwan Lottery noted.
Among these is the annual "NT$20 Million Super Red Envelope," traditionally the most popular Lunar New Year scratch card. Launched in January, the game offers 10 top prizes of NT$20 million and 1,200 second prizes of NT$1 million. According to Taiwan Lottery, the first NT$20 million top prize has already been claimed in Keelung City. The winning ticket was sold by a mobile vendor who usually operates at night markets.