In the first eleven months of 2013 the Portuguese spent €1.624 billion on the lottery and on scratch cards, to the cheery delight of the Santa Casa da Misericórdia.
This corresponds to an average of €147.6 million per month, €4.8m per day. The data show that the Santa Casa Euromillions is the game that attracts the most money, some €855 million to the end of November.
Also addictive are the instant lottery 'scratch cards’ with €542.7 million spent making it the second biggest money maker.
In the third place is Totoloto gathering €117 million, followed by The Joker at €38.4 million, the Classic Lottery at €38.1 million, the Popular Lottery at €23.7 million and, finally Totobola with €9.2 million spent.
The 20% tax introduced on winnings of over €5,000 from Euromillions, Totolotto, Joker and Totobola has not dampened the national desite to spend on these games of chance.
Santa Casa da Misericórdia’s mission is to run these ‘social games,’ under license from the State to the satisfaction of the players and to create a profit to give back to society through its public funding of institutions that aim to help the disadvantaged in society. This help hopefully will extend to those who have become addicted to buying scratch cards and lottery tickets.
