Thiruvonam Bumper sales soar; 59 lakh tickets sold, draw on September 26

Kanhangad: The Thiruvonam Bumper lottery has recorded a record in sales, with 59 lakh tickets already sold. The first prize is ₹30 crore, while each ticket costs ₹500. Agents have to remit ₹390 per ticket to the government, in addition to 28% GST. At ₹390 per ticket, the government has already received ₹230.10 crore.

A total of ₹125.54 crore has to be distributed as prize money, while ₹12.55 crore has been set aside as agency commission. There are still 18 days left for the draw.

The Thiruvonam Bumper ticket price was increased to ₹500 and the first prize to ₹25 crore in 2022. In 2021, when the first prize was ₹12 crore and the ticket cost ₹300, a total of 54 lakh tickets were sold. The following year, when the first prize was more than doubled, the lottery received a strong response. Of the 67.50 lakh tickets printed that year, 66.55 lakh were sold.

In 2023, 85 lakh tickets were printed and 75.76 lakh were sold. As nearly 10 lakh tickets remained unsold, only 80 lakh tickets were printed in 2024. Sales that year also fell short of expectations, with around 8.5 lakh tickets remaining unsold. Last year, the number of tickets printed was reduced again to 75 lakh, and all of them were sold. This year, the first prize has been increased to ₹30 crore without any change in the ticket price.

The second prize of ₹1 crore each will be awarded to 20 winners. The third prize is ₹25 lakh, also for 20 winners. There are a total of 5,34,670 prizes. The draw will be held on September 26.

A large volume of tickets is usually sold during the final one or two weeks before the draw. Agents say the sales lost on days affected by intermittent rain during the Onam season are likely to be recovered in the coming days.