Have you bought yours yet? If not, you may be in for a surprise: long lines at lottery stands and your favorite number(s) already taken, as lottery fever heats up for the upcoming ¢1 billion jackpot draw for the ‘acumulado’ that has not been won since June 15.
According to Claudio Madrigal, manager of production and distribution at the Junta de Protección Social (JPS) – the state lottery, “these figures are historical in the institution because we have previous records and we have not reached this level of sales.”
On June 15, the ‘acumulado’ jackpot was ¢740 million colones. This past Sunday the prize had accumulated to reach the billion mark. And no winner.
This has not only caused a buying frenzy but cases of price gouging.
Madrigal said that last week they received 105 complaints of vendors jacking prices. “We have complaints mainly for overpricing. We have a commission that is responsible for analyzing formalized complaints. When it is determined that a seller sold at a premium, that seller loses the concession for four years,”
explained the manager.
Complaints can be made by calling (toll-free) 800-5683-7427.
For those not familiar with Costa Rica’s lotteries, in particular, the ‘acumulado’, the dynamic is like this: on Tuesdays and Fridays (days when the “los chances” are played) and on Sundays, of the “national lottery” draw, an extra draw is made.
In the tombola (revolving drum) used for this additional game, there are 74 blank and one ball that has the word “acumulado”.
In each draw (Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays) a ball is drawn, if the one that says “acumulado” is drawn, then a new number and series will be drawn and those who have the ‘chances’ or ‘lottery’ tickets (according to the day) with that combination will be the winner(s) of the jackpot.
On Tuesdays and Fridays that the ‘acumulado’ does not fall, the prize increases by ¢10 million, on Sundays it increases by ¢20 million. In addition, to raise the interest of the players, the blank balls drawn are left out in each draw, increasing the chance of the ‘acumulado’ falling with each draw.
Theoretically, the ‘acumulado’ would automatically be on draw number 75 when all the blanks have been drawn.
The last time the ‘acumulado’ ball fell was on June 12, but the winning number had not been sold.
