Major overhaul: Several Kerala lotteries renamed, ticket prices & prizes increased | Details inside

Kozhikode: The Kerala government has announced major changes to its lottery system, including renaming several of its popular games and increasing both the prizes and ticket prices. The lotteries formerly known as Akshaya, Win-Win, Fifty-Fifty, and Nirmal will now be called Samriddhi, Dhanalakshmi, Bhagyadhara, and Suvarna Keralam, respectively.

In addition to the rebranding, the government has also revised the prize structure. The first prize for all lottery tickets has been increased to ₹1 crore. The ticket price has been raised from ₹40 to ₹50. This revision will take effect by the end of this month.

Other significant changes include a reduction in the minimum prize amount from ₹100 to ₹50. The total number of prizes distributed so far has risen from 3 lakh to 6.54 lakh, with a daily print run of 1.08 crore tickets. A total of ₹24.12 crore will be distributed in prizes across all lottery categories.

The second prize, which was previously capped at ₹10 lakh, has now been raised to ₹50 lakh. The third prize, which was ₹1 lakh, will range from ₹5 lakh to ₹25 lakh. There will also be a fourth prize of ₹1 lakh, with 12 winners per draw. The largest prize for the last four draws will be ₹5,000, reduced from the previous total of 23 prizes to 18.

Additionally, the prizes for lower-tier awards have been adjusted. For example, there will be 36 draws  for the ₹1,000 prize, benefiting 38,880 people overall. Previously, there were 24 to 26 draws for this prize. The number of draws for ₹500 prizes has been increased from 72 to 96, covering 1,03,680 recipients. The ₹100 prize draw will increase from 124 to 204, with 2,20,320 winners. New to this system, there will be 252 draws for the ₹50 prize, benefitting 2,72,160 people.

Details of the Karunya, Karunya Plus, and Stree Sakthi lottery schemes have also been released. In the Stree Sakthi lottery, which is drawn every Tuesday, the second prize is ₹40 lakh and the third prize is ₹25 lakh. The fourth prize, offering ₹1 lakh, will be awarded to 12 winners, while the fifth prize of ₹5,000 will be given to 19,440 ticket holders.

For the Karunya Plus lottery, drawn on Thursdays, and the Karunya lottery, drawn on Saturdays, the second prize is ₹50 lakh, and the third prize is ₹5 lakh. The remaining prize structure for both lotteries mirrors that of the Stree Sakthi lottery.

With these changes, agents are expected to earn a total commission of ₹2,89,54,440 from the revised lottery tickets.

These enhancements are designed to make the lottery system more attractive and beneficial to participants, while also increasing the revenue generated from the lottery sales in the state.