The anticipation of winning the Italian lottery tickets, which traditionally give lucky winners millions in prizes, is growing. The passion of Italians for the historic Epiphany competition is confirmed by the numbers of ticket sales, which have seen a record increase this year since the post-pandemic period. A total of 6.7 million tickets were sold (+10% compared to 2022), with Lazio leading the way, followed by Lombardy and Campania. Online sales are also increasing.
This year, 149,706 tickets were purchased online, around 48,000 more than last year. As usual, the first prize will be the 5 million euro prize, while the other so-called first category prizes will be announced by the Customs and Monopolies Authority just a few hours before the draw, which will take place during the “Affari Tuoi” broadcast on RaiUno it's planned . The tickets sold in Italy – from the small betting shops in the provinces to the magical caress of the car grill – show that the lottery ritual is no longer seen just as a game, but as a tradition to be renewed despite the crisis, as a daydream, around crises and prices to cope with increases. Last year it was a tobacconist in Bologna who celebrated, while Lazio confirmed itself as the happiest region with three of the five prizes in the first category, ie six-figure prizes. “Sales have tripled compared to last year,” the owner of a tobacco shop in Rome Termini told Agipronews. It is mainly tourists, especially Italians, who buy tickets. Sales started well immediately but increased excessively during the holidays.”
The situation is similar in the north and south, where the places, rest stops and train stations that are viewed as the “happiest” are targeted. But the Italian lottery also brings with it an unusual balance sheet, namely unclaimed winnings. In the last twenty years, from 2002, as Agipronews reports, a total of almost 31 million euros have been forgotten. The most striking case comes from 2008, when not even the first prize of 5 million was paid out. The last episode dates back to 2016, although the €2 million prize was never claimed. The Italians have not given up the habit of not checking their ticket properly even in the 2022 edition of the lottery, the last in chronological order: last year the total of unclaimed prizes was 618,000 euros, 458,000 in the final draw and 160,000 thousand in the various daily ones Events.
Read the full article on ANSA.it