Lottery in Taiwan
The history of the Taiwanese lottery is highly influenced by events from the general political history of Taiwan. Taiwan was under Japanese governance from the end of the 19 century until 1945 and the lottery games that existed in that period were mainly considered as means for raising funds for temples and charity actions. The highest prize from that period was about ¥50,000.After the Second World War with the Patriotic Bond Statute, the lottery strengthened even further its role in being a stable source for the economy of the island. They organized the first modern lottery draw in April, 1950 with the prize being NTWD 200,000.
However, in 1987, with the change of the political situation in the country, the lottery games in Taiwan were prohibited, since all gambling activates became illegal. Because of the illegal lottery that flourished in this period the government soon decided to bring back the lottery in Taiwan in 1995. In 2007 the China Trust Commercial Bank bought the lottery contract from the Taipei Bank and until today they are the only lottery provider in Taiwan of all the lottery games that can be played in this country.
Online Lotto in Taiwan
The offer of lottery games in Taiwan today is immense. Almost all of them can be played as online lottery games as well, but only via the official sites recognized by the lottery authorities in Taiwan. Thus the most widely played online lottery games in Taiwan include the Super Lotto (also known as Power Lotto)and Lotto 6/49 -both drawn twice a week.Instant cards are also popular in Taiwan but their online analogues have not yet been introduced.
The highest lottery jackpot of the Super Lotto is the one from April 2012, when a single lottery ticket won an astonishing NTUSD 947,451,651 (USD 32.7 million). On the other side the largest prize in the Lotto 6/49 was also one from 2012, when the jackpot reached unbelievable NTUSD 1,712,238,207, which were divided between five lucky lottery winners.