A Full Look at Gambling in Taiwan
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- Super Lotto (威力彩) also called Power Lotto or Lotto 6/38 – is one of the two richest lotteries in Taiwan. In its simplest form a wager is six numbers 1-38 and a seventh number 1-8 for a price of NT$100 per bet. The options when filling out betting cards are many. It is possible to over select the required numbers.
- Bingo Hot & Cold Numbers. You probably noticed that some numbers just seem to appear in every other draw! These frequently drawn numbers are known as hot numbers and they are used by many experienced lottery players due to their likelihood to be drawn. Check out the list of the most, and the least, frequently drawn numbers in Bingo lotto game!
My recent Part II article on Taiwan Gambling Law discusses the history of lottery, how to play Taiwan Sports Lottery and Uniform Invoice Lottery. It doesn’t explain specific details about the Public Welfare Lottery but rather only its history and law. This is not one lottery, but rather many operated by a subsidiary of Chinatrust Commercial Bank (CTCB) called by Taiwan Lottery Co. Ltd. As I was unable to find English language articles that covered its many games, I decided to write this article to explain each.
Major Lotteries in Taiwan
The two richest lotteries in Taiwan are Super Lotto (威力彩) and Lotto 6/49 (6/49大樂透 ). On the surface the games are straight forward and easy to play. The actual wagering options are more complex with the options for round robin, box, and to play multiple sets on the same ticket. This is explained in the section below.
How to Play Taiwan Super Lotto (威力彩)
Super Lotto (威力彩) also called Power Lotto or Lotto 6/38 – is one of the two richest lotteries in Taiwan. In its simplest form a wager is six numbers 1-38 and a seventh number 1-8 for a price of NT$100 per bet. The options when filling out betting cards are many.
It is possible to over select the required numbers. For example if you select 7 numbers it will play all 7 combinations of 6 numbers and cost NT$700. If you select 8 numbers it plays all 28 combos of 6 numbers and cost NT$2800. This is so on and so forth and is referred to in English as round robin.
You can also leave a number blank. For example: picking just five numbers – the final sixth number will be boxed (played all 38 ways) and cost NT$3800. On the same selection card you can play up to four games and this will all print out on a single ticket. An example is shown above to the right.
In Super Lottery, the order of the numbers does not matter (there is no order to select). The prizes are as follows:
6 Correct + Bonus = 89% of Progressive Jackpot
6 Correct (No Bonus) = 11% of Progressive Jackpot.
5 Correct + Bonus = NT $150,000 Fixed-Odds
5 Correct (no bonus) = NT$20,000 Fixed-Odds
4 Correct + Bonus = NT$4,000 Fixed-Odds
4 Correct (no bonus) = NT$800 Fixed-Odds
3 Correct + Bonus = NT$400 Fixed-Odds
2 Correct + Bonus = NT$200 Fixed-Odds
3 Correct (no bonus) = NT$100 Fixed-Odds
1 Correct + Bonus = NT$100 Fixed-Odds
Frequency: draws are held twice a week Monday and Thursday.
Payout Allocation: from each NT$100 ticket sold, 55% goes to the progressive jackpot. This carries over each week when there are no winners. If there are multiple winners in the same week they split the jackpot.
Jackpot Sizes: the Jackpot size depends on sales. When someone has won the previous draw the prize is often 70-80 million NT and then grows from there each draw. The largest jackpot in 2012 came April 19, 2012 when it exceeded 1.1 billion. There was a single top winner who was paid NT$ 947,451,651 ($32.7 million USD) for his lucky picks.
How to Play Lotto 6/49 (6/49大樂透 )
The other of the two richest lotteries in Taiwan, Lotto 6/49 is also a twice weekly lottery. It is drawn on Tuesdays and Fridays. Players choose six numbers (1-49) at a cost of NT$50 per bet. The same box and round robin opportunities exist as in Super Lotto. There are seven numbers (not six) drawn. This extra number is not selected on player’s tickets but is rather used for second place prizes on down. 55% of ticket sales are used to fund the jackpot with unpaid portions rolling over to the next draw. The payouts are as follows.
6 Correct = 58% of Jackpot
5 Correct + Bonus = 9% of Jackpot
5 Correct (no bonus) = 9% of Jackpot
4 Correct + Bonus = 5% of Jackpot
4 Correct = 19% of the Jackpot
3 Correct + Bonus = NT$1000 Fixed-Odds
3 Correct (no bonus) = NT$400 Fixed-Odds
Lotto 649 Jackpot Size: In draws where someone has won the jackpot the week before the prize is around 90 million NT. It can also grow very large. At one point in 2012 it reached NT$1,712,238,207. Ticket sales were a record high and there were five first place winners.
Anytime Lotteries in Taiwan
Taiwan Lottery Winning Numbers
There are two legal ways to get a gambling fix in a hurry. These are scratch cards and BINGO BINGO. The latter is actually what much of the world refers to as Keno, but is known when gambling in Mainland China as Bái gē piào (白鴿票) and in Macau gambling as Pacapio. Both scratch cards and BINGO BINGO are explained in the sections below.
Playing Keno in Taiwan (Bingo Bingo)
As just mention, in Taiwan Keno is called Bingo Bingo and draws take place every five minutes. 20 out of 80 balls are drawn for each game. The monitors showing the draw feature cartoons (often of a sexy-female) and music. Players can chose to play games that select any amount of numbers – starting at 1 and up to 10. The payouts are different depending how many numbers the player selects. The cost per wager is NT$25 regardless of the game played.
The payouts are available on the BINGO BINGO webpage. This is in Taiwanese but following the left column you can easily decipher the payouts for each game. The right column is for a multiplier side bet.
Which game to play: Understand all around the world the odds on Keno are not very good and Bingo Bingo in Taiwan is no exception. The games with the highest returns are 9-selections at 65.3%, 6-selections at 61%, 5-selections at 60.3% and ten selections at 59.2%. The others range from 50% to 56% return. If you must play, the four games mentioned are best, but know BINGO BINGO is a long term losing proposition.
Bingo Lottery Taiwan Lotto
A final note is there is a high low-side game available. To win a high bet – 13 numbers must fall in spots 41-80. To win a low bet – 13 numbers must fall in spots 1-40. This game has very poor odds as it pays only 6-to-1 making it the worst of all Bingo Bingo bets.
Scratch Cards (刮刮樂)
Scratch Card are very popular in Taiwan with many different versions sold. If you enter 刮刮樂 into a Google image search you can see the diverse variety offered. A lot of times these are issued in series. For example: for 2012 Chinese New Year we had scratch cards such as Great Luck Great Winnings (大吉大利) at $NT100, Blossoming Riches (花開富貴) at NT$200, Homeplan (五福臨門) at NT$500 and the richest one yet $26,000,000 Red Envelope at $NT2000 per ticket.
These can be purchased most anywhere lottery is sold and at various stores and vendors. How each game is played is different. The most common games require matching 3 symbols from six slots to win the prize for that symbol. Some are lucky symbol games where only one symbol is needed to win and more symbols wins larger prizes. There are other more complex variations too. There is no strategy involved; just scratch the card and look at the rules printed on it to see if you win.
Bingo Lottery Taiwan Lottery Results
Taiwan Daily Lotteries
In Taiwan we have many daily lotteries that are drawn every day but Sunday. This includes the daily numbers 3, numbers 4, a game like tic-tac-toe and others. Each is explained in sections below.
How to Play Lotto 539 (今彩539)
Lotto 539, also called Daily Cash, is the easiest Taiwan lottery to explain. Tickets cost NT$50 and are five numbers 1-39. The drawing takes place every day except for Sunday, no bonus number is used and the payouts are fixed as opposed to progressive. 5 Correct pays 8 million, 4 correct pays 20,000, 3 correct pays 300 and 4 correct pays 50.
Bingo Lottery Ticket
Tic Tac Toe / Lotto 9 Line (樂線九宮格)
This game translates to English as 9 Line Sudoku but is what most in the west know as tic-tac-toe. The sheet for selecting numbers is shown to the left. You pick one number from each of the nine boxes. Tickets cost NT$25 per wager and drawings take place everyday but Sunday. How many lines (horizontal, vertical or diagonal just like tic-tac-toe) you make determines how much you win. 8 lines is $1.5 million, 6-lines is NT$25000, 5-lines is $12500, 4 lines is $1250, 3-lines is $250, 2 lines is $125 and 1 line is $25.
Bingo Lottery Taiwan Lottery
Draw 3 Daily Numbers (星彩)
This is Taiwan’s Daily Pick 3 Draw, it is held every day but Sunday. For a straight bet you chose a number 000 to 999 and this cost NT$25 and if correct you are paid NT$12500. If only the last two are correct this pays NT$750. You can also do a bet on any order. If your numbers are all unique this pays NT$4000. If two of numbers are duplicate (ex: 221) it pays NT$2000. It is not possible with any order wagers to select number of that are all the same (ex: 111, 222, etc.).
Draw 4 Daily Numbers (星彩)
This draw takes place everyday but Sunday and involves picking a number 0000 to 9999 at a cost of NT$25 per bet. Drawing the correct number pays $125,000. There is also a wager for any order bets. If three numbers are the same (ex: 2111) this pays $30,000. If you have two sets of numbers (ex: 3366) this pays $20,000. If you use one number twice (ex: 1123) this pays $10,000 and all unique numbers (ex:1456) pays $5,000.
Simple Taiwan Lotteries
There are three other legal lotteries in Taiwan that all function similar but are slightly different. These are the least popular of what is offered but there are Taiwanese that prefer these. This is because they work similar to lotteries that existed in China for many years. These are explained below in list format.
- Lottery 38 (38樂合彩) – this is a simple lottery game drawn every Monday and Thursdays costing NT$25 per bet. There are 38 numbers and you play 2, 3, 4, or 5 of them. However many you play, you must get all correct to win the prize. The two number game pays $750, the three number game $5750, the four number game $67,500 and the five number game $1,150,000.
- 49 Lottery (49樂合彩) -This works similar to the lottery mentioned above. The difference is there are 49 numbers, the games are drawn Tuesday and Friday and you pick 2, 3 or 4 numbers. Tickets still cost NT$25 each and you still must get 100% correct. 2-game pays $1250, 3-game pays $12,500, and 4-game pays $200,000.
- 39 Lottery (39樂合彩) – This works the same as the lotteries above also costing NT$25 and however many you pick you must get 100% correct. This game is drawn everyday but Sunday. The numbers are up to 39. 2-game pays $1,125, 3-game pays $11,250, 4-game $212,500.
This article has now covered all lottery organised by the subsidiary of Chinatrust Commercial Bank (CTCB) – Taiwan Lottery Co. Ltd. While we don’t suggest it, online betting in Taiwan is also a widespread. This offers better odds but comes with great penalty if caught.
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