Thrissur: The return of migrant workers to their home states has dealt a blow not only to the construction and hospitality sectors but also to Kerala's lottery industry. Daily lottery ticket sales have fallen by an estimated 5 lakh to 10 lakh tickets. Traders say the decline has been aggravated by recent reductions in prize payouts.

The decline in sales has become severe over the past two months. Earlier, around 1.08 crore tickets were sold every day, with the entire printed stock usually getting sold out. Lottery vendors note that migrant workers were among the most enthusiastic buyers. Groups of three or four workers would often buy four or five tickets each, and many preferred purchasing tickets with the same number series together.

DateLottery NameNumbers
May 24Samrudhi618625
May 25Bhagyathara725525
May 26Sthree Sakthi703200
May 27Dhanalekshmi716200
May 28Karunya Plus1014475
May 29Suvarna Keralam895950
May 31Samrudhi1088300
June 1Bhagyathara865800
June 2Sthree Sakthi662200
June 3Dhanalekshmi587425
   
   

Fears of further decline

People in the sector fear that ticket sales could fall even further, with the daily drop reaching 15 lakh tickets.

Under reforms introduced on May 2, 2025, ticket prices were increased and prizes below ₹5,000 were significantly reduced. Since the first prize was raised from ₹60–80 lakh to ₹1 crore, the changes did not initially affect sales much. However, vendors now say that the reduction in smaller prizes has begun to seriously impact demand.

The lottery sector supports around 2 lakh sellers, 20,000 sub-agents, and 10,000 agents across the state.