Prizes in the weekly 'Fatura da Sorte' draw are to be changed from Audi cars to rather more mundane State savings products.
The weekly prize will have a value equivalent to the Audi A4, €35,000, and for the extraordinary draw, the prize will be €50,000 in bonds instead of smart new Audi A6.
The swapping of glitzy cars for their cash equivalent has been noted in the Official Gazette and lucky winners can look forward to receiving Treasury Savings Certificates as from this Friday.
The decree had already been published by the Ministry of Finance which stated that the change of the prize for savings products is a "simplified procedures" and a way to "stimulate the savings of families and promote the State's savings products."
The benefit to the State is that it will not have to shell out hard cash to buy the Audi vehicles and can send the winner a piece of paper, redeemable only after a year.
The winners will have to comply with the legal framework covering these types of savings bonds which means they have to be held for at least a year before they can be cashed in.
"The change of the premium for savings products, simplifying the system, has the benefit of stimulating family savings promoting the state's savings products while promoting the ‘fiscal citizenship’ of taxpayers in combating the informal economy and the prevention of tax evasion," explained he government.
Another reason for this amendment concerns the nature of the car as a prize, which the Socialist government did not consider "the most appropriate, both symbolically or in its usefullness for the winners.”
Last year €5.2 billion in invoices were recorded, an increase of 7.5% compared to 2014, when €4.8 billion of invoices were recorded.
