Lotteries in Asia

Across Asia, the lottery landscape is dominated by state operators: Japan's takarakuji ticket network and its toto football pools, Singapore Pools with TOTO and 4D, Vietlott in Vietnam, the Thai Government Lottery Office, the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office and China's welfare and sports lottery commissions. This page walks through how each of the main games works, what a ticket costs, what you can win, where to buy and how to claim. If you want the broader picture of how draws, prize pools and ticket types fit together, start with how lotteries work, and for a side-by-side view of all 12 jurisdictions, see Asia's lotteries compared.

Here is the short version of what is on offer where:

What counts as a lottery in Asia

A lottery, in the sense used across the region, is a game where you buy a chance at a prize determined by a draw, a set of numbers or a scratch panel. China's regulations give one of the clearest definitions of the range: lottery types there include lotto, numbers, sports guessing, traditional, instant, video and keno games¹¹. A later restatement of the same rules keeps that list and adds that other types may exist¹⁰.

That breadth matters, because several things that do not look like a raffle ticket are still lotteries. Japan's toto, where you predict football results, is a sports-guessing lottery. Singapore's 4D, where you pick a four-digit number, is a numbers game. Scratch cards are instant lotteries, covered in more detail in instant lotteries and scratch cards.

Prizes themselves are tightly controlled. In China, a lottery prize must be paid in RMB only: not in a foreign currency, not in kind, and not in installments¹². In Hong Kong, Mark Six prizes can be paid as cash, a cash voucher or into a betting account¹³. If you are curious about how prize money is pooled and divided before it reaches winners, see how much of a lottery ticket comes back in prizes.

Japan's takarakuji and toto: how the sports lottery works

Japan runs two distinct lottery families. The first is takarakuji, the classic numbered and scratch tickets sold at street booths and through the official Takarakuji site. The second is the sports lottery, run under the Sports Promotion Voting Law, which includes the football-prediction game toto and its relatives⁴.

The sports lineup covers several games:

• BIG: a football lottery that needs no knowledge; the computer assigns your results and you aim at high prizes
• toto: predict the results of designated football matches
• WINNER: covers football and basketball
• DUNK: a basketball game¹⁴

The regular year-round products are toto, mini toto and totoGOAL3, while totoGOAL2 is sold for specific cup competitions¹⁵.

Buying toto in person is simple: you fill in your predictions on a marksheet at the sales location, hand it to the shop staff and receive your ticket¹⁶. Retail purchase is at lottery shops displaying the sports toto logo; tickets cannot be reserved or bought online from the official takarakuji site, though the sports lottery has its own official site and partner sites¹⁷. Sales close at 12:00 on the final sales day at booths, and 11:30 at convenience store terminals¹⁸.

For takarakuji, the official site lets you buy several different lotteries with different types and purchase methods in a single transaction¹⁹. Street booths sell the famous Jumbo tickets, and products and opening hours vary from booth to booth, so check the booth map for handling hours²⁰. Winnings of JPY 10,000 or more on number-selection lotteries bought online are, in principle, transferred automatically to your registered account within about a week of the draw¹.

Toto odds and prizes: JPY 100 a bet, up to JPY 500,000,000 with carryover

toto is a 13-match football prediction game. For each designated match you predict the home team's result over 90 minutes: a win is marked "1", a loss "2", and anything else, such as a draw or extra time, "0"²⁴. At least 9 of the 13 matches must be played for the round to stand, so up to 4 matches can be canceled²⁵.

The prize tiers are straightforward:

A bet costs JPY 100²⁶. The prize pool is 50% of sales, split 70% to first prize, 15% to second and 15% to third, so actual prize amounts vary with sales and the number of winning entries²⁷.

The headline figure comes from the carryover. If no one wins first prize, or the first prize dividend is not fully paid out, the remainder is carried to the next round². The next first prize pool equals the carryover plus 35% of the current round's total toto sales². With a carryover, the first prize cap rises from JPY 100,000,000 to JPY 500,000,000²⁵. The operator gives a worked example: if the first prize pool reaches JPY 1,500,000,000, up to three people could win JPY 500,000,000 each². For more on how unwon prizes move between draws, see jackpot rollovers, snowballs and cascades.

The wider sports family has its own caps:

Those figures make Japan's sports lottery the source of the region's biggest prizes, as covered in the biggest lottery jackpots in Asia.

Checking results can be done four ways, but in-store checking is only possible at lottery shops and 7-Eleven stores². Winnings from shop purchases can be collected at shinkin banks handling sports lottery, at some lottery shops that allow payouts, and at 7-Eleven; online winnings go straight to your account². The detailed payout thresholds are in the claiming section below.

Singapore Pools: TOTO and 4D bet types and draw days

Singapore Pools runs the two games most visitors encounter: TOTO, a pick-6 game from numbers 1 to 49, and 4D, a four-digit numbers game.

TOTO draws are held on Mondays and Thursdays³. The bet types range from a simple Ordinary entry through System 7 up to System 12, plus System Roll, iTOTO, Group TOTO and TOTO MATCH⁶. Online, you can place Self Pick bets for Ordinary, System Entry and System Roll for the current draw, or Quick Pick bets by bet type or bet amount²⁹. The prize pool for each draw is 54% of total sales³⁰. Advertised jackpots are around S$1,000,000 estimated for the next draw⁶.

TOTO also has an unusual cascade rule. If Group 1, the jackpot group, has no winner for three consecutive draws, a cascade prize occurs in the fourth draw; if there is still no Group 1 winner, all the accumulated prize money, which is 38% of the fourth draw's pool plus the amounts carried from the previous three draws, is divided equally among the winners of the next winning group³⁰. Groups 2, 3 and 4 cascade until there is a winner³⁰.

4D draws are conducted on Wednesday, Saturday or Sunday²⁹. The bet types are:

• Ordinary: pick one four-digit number
• System Bet and iBet: cover permutations of your number
• 4D Roll: fix three digits and roll the fourth⁷

A Big bet pays SGD 2,000 for first prize per SGD 1 bet⁷. If you want the full mechanics of the game, see how 4D works, and for the multi-draw jackpot versions, 4D Jackpot, Jackpot Gold and 3+3D Bonus.

Vietnam's Power 6/55: who may play and how the bao bets work

Vietlott's flagship game is Power 6/55. An entry costs VND 10,000 and you pick 6 numbers from 01 to 55⁸. Draws are held at 18:00 on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, broadcast live on TodayTV, SCTV2, or on the Vietlott Facebook fanpage³¹. You can check tickets at checkwin machines at points of sale or on the Vietlott SMS app³¹.

The game has 5 prize tiers⁸. Matching 4 numbers wins VND 500,000 and 3 numbers wins VND 50,000, with the top jackpots going to 6-number matches⁸. A winner receives only the highest prize tier won on a ticket⁸.

Beyond the basic pick-6, Power 6/55 offers bao play, which is system betting by another name. Bao 5 means you pick 5 numbers and software chooses the 6th from the remaining 50 numbers, creating 50 entries³¹. The combinations scale fast:

The payouts for bao bets stack the jackpots with fixed amounts: a Bao 10 ticket matching 6 numbers plus the bonus number pays Jackpot 1, Jackpot 2 and VND 769 million for the same result⁸. System betting of this kind is explained more generally in lottery system bets.

You can buy up to 6 draws in advance on a single play slip³¹. Mobile players must have both a betting account and a prize-receiving account³¹.

Eligibility is broad: Vietnamese citizens, Vietnamese people settled abroad and foreigners who have entered Vietnam legally may all participate, provided they are 18 or older and not under a restriction on civil act capacity³¹. One caution from Vietlott itself: no regulation currently permits any individual or organization to buy lottery tickets on behalf of others, so third-party ticket-buying services are operating outside the rules³².

The Thai government lottery: draws, prizes and the THB 80 ticket

Thailand's government lottery is the region's most famous paper ticket. Each set contains 1,000,000 tickets priced at THB 80 each⁹. A full set carries 14,168 prizes totaling THB 48,000,000, and if a set does not sell out, each prize amount is reduced proportionally³³.

The prize ladder per set, when fully sold:

• First prize: THB 6,000,000
• Second prize: THB 200,000
• Third prize: THB 80,000
• Fourth prize: THB 40,000
• Tickets adjacent to the first prize number: THB 100,000
• Three-digit last-number prize (drawn twice): THB 4,000
• Two-digit last-number prize (drawn once): THB 10,000⁹

Alongside the government lottery sits the charity lottery, which uses the government lottery results of the same draw for its prize checks³³. The two differ in one very practical way when you win: government lottery prizes must be claimed within 2 years of the draw date, while charity lottery prizes have 10 years; after the deadline, the money goes to state revenue⁹.

Tickets reach the public through two systems: a distributor agent system of 31 million tickets and an advance purchase-booking system of no more than 69 million tickets per draw³⁴. Agents in Bangkok collect their tickets at the GLO office at Don Mueang, provincial agents collect at provincial halls or provincial treasury offices, and purchase-and-booking buyers receive tickets through Thailand Post at post offices nationwide³⁴. There is also a digital channel: tickets can be bought through the Pao Tang application at no more than THB 80 each, with no additional fees or service charges³⁵.

Prize money is paid to the holder of the winning ticket who presents it to claim³³. Winners pay stamp duty of THB 1 per THB 200 of prize money or fraction of THB 200³³. For a claimant under the Lottery 6 rules, a citizen ID card or other government-issued ID must be shown to verify identity, and deposited winning tickets are paid by check deposit or bank transfer to Krungthai Bank within 3 business days after verification³⁶. More detail is in how long do you have to claim a Thai lottery prize.

Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office: lotto and small town lotteries

The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) runs the Philippines' national lotto draws as well as the small town lottery games sold through local outlets. The lotto side covers the country's number-draw games, which follow the pick-6 format described in pick-6 lotto games in Asia compared, while the small town lottery is a printed-ticket product distributed through a network of local agents, closer in spirit to the pre-printed ticket model described in printed-number ticket lotteries.

For ticket prices, see how much does a PCSO lotto ticket cost, and for the question of online purchase, can you buy PCSO lotto tickets online. The PCSO's proceeds fund health programs and medical assistance, which is the standard model for state lotteries in the region: the Thai GLO, Vietlott and Japan's sports lottery all channel surplus revenue to public causes, with Japan's sports lottery proceeds going to sports promotion projects.

Where you can buy tickets: shops, convenience stores and online accounts

The buying experience varies a lot by country, but the pattern is similar: street booths and licensed shops for paper tickets, convenience stores for terminal games, and official online channels for registered users.

In Japan, takarakuji tickets are sold at street lottery stands and through the official site, where you can hold several different lotteries in one cart¹⁹. Jumbo tickets can be bought at street sales offices, with products and hours varying by office²⁰. Sports lottery is sold at shops displaying the toto logo, at convenience stores, and online through the official sports lottery website and partner sites¹⁷.

In Thailand, tickets flow through the distributor and booking systems described above, with collection at the GLO office, provincial halls or post offices³⁴. In Vietnam, Vietlott tickets are sold at points of sale, where the checkwin machines also sit³¹.

In South Korea, online and printed lottery tickets are sold at retail outlets, which you can find through the outlet finder at www.dhlottery.co.kr³⁷. In Hong Kong, Mark Six entries are paid for in cash, by cash voucher or through a betting account¹³.

Online purchase is the area where borders matter most. Japan's takarakuji site blocks purchases from outside Japan²², and the general question of playing a foreign lottery while abroad is covered in buying official lottery tickets online in Asia. For a full rundown of outlet types, see where to buy lottery tickets in Asia.

Claiming prizes: deadlines, ID requirements and stamp duty

Claiming rules differ by game and country, and the deadlines range from a year to a decade.

In Japan, the sports lottery payout thresholds work like this:

• Prizes of JPY 100,000 or less per ticket: paid at booths, credit unions or Seven-Eleven
• Prizes over JPY 100,000: paid at credit unions
• Prizes over JPY 500,000: a credit union procedure is required, with cash paid after 12 business days or a bank transfer
• Seven-Eleven pays out only up to JPY 15,000, and some booths cap payouts at JPY 10,000 or JPY 50,000 per ticket¹⁸

Online purchases are paid automatically to your account¹⁸.

For takarakuji, photo ID is required to claim winnings over JPY 500,000 per ticket, and winnings over JPY 1,000,000 also require a personal seal, though a signature is accepted if you have no seal; the ticket must be submitted at a Mizuho Bank and payment takes about a week²³. Number-selection lottery winnings of JPY 10,000 or more bought online are transferred automatically¹.

In Thailand, the claim deadlines are 2 years for the government lottery and 10 years for the charity lottery⁹. Claimants must show a citizen ID card or other government-issued ID and consent to disclosure of personal data to the Government Lottery Office; deposited tickets are paid within 3 business days of verification³⁶. Stamp duty of THB 1 per THB 200 of prize money applies³³.

In South Korea, the claim period is 1 year from the payment start date for draw-type printed, electronic, online and combined lotteries, and 1 year from the end of the sales period for instant printed and instant electronic lotteries, under Article 9 of the Lottery and Lottery Fund Act³⁷.

In China, prizes are paid only in RMB, never in kind or installments¹². What happens to prizes nobody claims, in every jurisdiction, is covered in unclaimed lottery prizes, and the practical steps are in how to claim a lottery prize in Asia.

Taxes on lottery winnings

Tax treatment varies sharply across the region, and China has the most explicit rules.

In China, lottery winnings are classified as incidental income and taxed as individual income tax on the amount of each winning³⁸. The rate is 20%, applied to the full amount of each winning³⁹. There is an exemption: single winnings from the welfare lottery and sports lottery not exceeding CNY 10,000 are temporarily exempt from individual income tax³⁹. For computer lottery, all prizes won by the same person in the same draw of the same game count as one single winning income, so you cannot split a big win into small tax-free pieces⁴⁰. The lottery institutions handle the paperwork: they file tax-exempt declarations for individuals with computer lottery single winnings over CNY 3,000 up to CNY 10,000, and tax filings for single winnings over CNY 10,000 from computer lottery and instant lottery⁴¹.

Elsewhere the picture is different. If you win across borders, the tax question can get complicated, so check the rules for your country of residence.

Who may play: age limits and eligibility rules

Age limits are the main gate, and they differ by country:

• Japan: persons under 19 may not buy or receive sports lottery tickets; the rule covers not just purchase but accepting a ticket from someone else. The operator states it plainly: purchase is prohibited for those under 19²⁶
• South Korea: you can buy from January 1 of the year you turn 19, and minors under the Youth Protection Act may not buy at all³⁷
• China: lottery must not be sold to persons under 18, and prizes must not be paid to them either; sellers may request ID where age is unclear¹²
• Vietnam: Power 6/55 participants must be 18 or older and must not be under a restriction or loss of civil act capacity; the game is open to Vietnamese citizens, Vietnamese settled abroad and foreigners who have entered the country legally³¹

The minimum age question is covered in more detail at what is the minimum age to play Vietlott.

Two cross-border cautions are worth a single mention each. Japan's takarakuji site cannot be used from outside Japan²², and in Vietnam no rule permits anyone to buy tickets on your behalf³². Beyond that, the main practical risk with any lottery is the one that applies everywhere: only spend what you can afford to lose, and be aware that unlicensed operators using official results are a different thing entirely, as explained in illegal lotteries that use official results.