"Four First-Prize Winners"…Unclaimed Lotto Winnings Total a Staggering 52.1 Billion Won

The amount of unclaimed Lotto (online lottery) winnings that have expired due to winners not claiming them has been confirmed to reach 52.1 billion KRW as of the end of last year.

According to data received by Yang Kyung-sook, a member of the National Assembly's Planning and Finance Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, from the Ministry of Strategy and Finance's Lottery Commission on the 9th, the Lotto winnings that expired due to non-claiming last year amounted to 52.141 billion KRW.

This amount includes four first-prize winnings (totaling 11.544 billion KRW), and there were 25 cases of unclaimed second-prize winnings (totaling 1.37 billion KRW). Third-prize cases numbered 1,435 (totaling 2.066 billion KRW), and fourth-prize cases were 127,965 (totaling 6.398 billion KRW).

The fifth-prize winnings had the highest number of unclaimed cases and total amount, reaching 6,152,540 cases (totaling 30.763 billion KRW). Since the fifth-prize winnings are relatively small at 5,000 KRW per case, it appears that many were not claimed.

Besides Lotto, unclaimed winnings from Pension Lottery and Printed Lottery were also reported to be 3.941 billion KRW and 7.936 billion KRW, respectively.

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Lotto winnings must be claimed within one year from the start date of payment; if the winner does not claim within this period, the validity expires and the winnings revert to the Lottery Fund. The Lottery Fund is used to support various public interest projects such as welfare for low-income vulnerable groups, housing stability, science and technology promotion funds, and cultural heritage protection.

Meanwhile, on the 9th of last month, a first-prize Lotto winning amounting to 314.792 million KRW was scheduled to revert to the national treasury due to non-claiming, but the winner appeared about a month before the payment deadline and claimed the prize.

The winner was from the 1054th Lotto draw held on February 11 last year and purchased the ticket at a lottery store in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province. The payment deadline was February 12, so the prize was claimed with only about 40 days remaining.

Assemblywoman Yang emphasized, “We need to reduce unclaimed winnings that lottery buyers fail to claim due to lack of awareness through active promotion,” and added, “Unclaimed winnings that revert to the Lottery Fund after the expiration period should be thoroughly managed to ensure transparent and efficient use for public interest projects such as those for vulnerable groups.”

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