One Maltese Person Has Won The VAT Receipt Lottery 13 Times In Two Years
One person has won the VAT fiscal receipt lottery 13 separate times since January 2018, with their winnings amounting to a total of €8,353.
On July 2018, the lucky winner had three of their receipts chosen in the same month – taking home a whopping €1,703.
Normal odds don’t seem to apply to Malta’s VAT lottery and people have voiced their concerns over the lottery’s transparency. However, a similar incident a couple of years back might explain this person’s seemingly never-ending luck.
Back in 2016, Times of Malta revealed that John Sammut – a philanthropist working with Malta’s Mission Fund – was submitting bin bags full of receipts to the lottery, with the winnings going towards funding the organisation’s incentives.
This hasn’t stopped people from questioning the results, with a spokesperson from the Finance Ministry rubbishing allegations that lottery results are being tampered with.
“These people normally send in around four sacks of receipts – so you can understand that their chance of winning is greater than anyone else who participates with an odd 20 receipts.“
“It is only those who do not win that allege that the lottery is being tampered with. The winners keep quiet.”
The lottery is supervised by a board of representatives to ensure transparency throughout the process. Such representatives include a notary from the Office of the notary to Government, an individual from the Finance Ministry, and an individual from the Commissioner for Revenue, amongst others. The general public is also permitted to observe the entire process.
This lottery is conducted on a monthly basis, wherein willing participants are invited to send over their receipts to the Fiscal Receipts Lottery department.
On average, the department receives around 1500kg worth of receipts every month.
A prize fund of €58,234 is allocated for this lottery, therefore receipts will keep being chosen until said amount is reached. The chosen receipts’ values are multiplied by 100 – that is a receipt having a value of €23.29 will produce a prize of €2,329.
Having said that, winners are entitled to a minimum prize of €233 – therefore a receipt with any value up to €2.33 will still result in a prize of €233.