On Thursday, 1 November, the Saeima adopted in the final reading a law on organising a receipt lottery. The lottery, which aims to urge people to ask for receipts or tickets for the products or services they purchase, is one of the measures to combat shadow economy.
People will be able to play the lottery an unlimited number of times by registering their receipts worth at least EUR 5 on a dedicated website – cekuloterija.lv. Receipts for tobacco, alcohol and energy drink purchases may not be registered by minors.
The lottery will have a monthly and annual draw. The monthly draw will provide a grand prize of EUR 10 000, three prizes of EUR 5 000 and 50 prizes of EUR 100.
The annual draw will carry a grand prize of EUR 20 000, four prizes of EUR 10 000 and five prizes of EUR 2 000. In each monthly draw, 10 receipts out of the ones not drawn for a monthly prize will be drawn for eligibility for the annual draw.
In addition to the cash prizes, the lottery will also provide other prizes, which could be supplied by certain industry representatives – companies participating in the Enhanced cooperation programme.
The registration of receipts for the lottery will be opened on 1 July next year, when the new Law will come into force. Due to the fact that the first year of the lottery will only be half a calendar year, the first annual draw, which will take place in January 2020, will provide one prize of EUR 10 000, four prizes of EUR 5 000 and five prizes of EUR 1 000.
The Law on the Receipt Lottery sets out the procedures for organising the lottery, determining the winners and issuing the prizes.
The lottery will be organised by the State Revenue Service, while the results will be published by state joint stock company “Latvijas Loto”.
Employees of the State Revenue Service and the provider of lottery services shall not be eligible to participate in the lottery.
The law introducing the lottery has been adopted in order to promote fair competition and paying of taxes, reduce tax fraud and evasion.
Saeima Press Service