Afternoon observation: "scratch-off" whirlwind sold out of goods

China's instant lottery "scratch-off" has recently been a whirlwind among young people, this kind of scratch-off knows whether there is a winning lottery ticket, and in recent weeks, it has been frequently sold out in many places, and the situation of difficult to obtain a vote has caused public concern.

In an interview with the China Media Group, the owner of a lottery shop in the west city of Beijing said the store had been out of stock for a while, and fewer products had just arrived.

According to reports, 5 yuan, 10 yuan small denomination lottery tickets are generally out of stock, 20 yuan, 30 yuan, 50 yuan large denomination stock is also little left.

A lottery shop owner in Shaoxing, Zhejiang province, said that instant lottery tickets are better than computer tickets, and how many tickets the lottery center gives them, they take how many tickets, and now tickets are limited.

A staff member of a lottery shop in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, revealed that when business is good, it can sell about 18,000 yuan a day.

In response to the recent phenomenon of out of stock, China Welfare Lottery and China Sports lottery, the two major issuers admitted that the recent demand for instant lottery market is strong, production and supply can not keep up with demand, and lottery out of stock will take some time to ease.

China Sports lottery officials also said there may be fewer ticket types in the short term.

The instant lottery tickets issued by China's welfare lottery are known as "scratch tickets", while the sports lottery issued by China is called "top quake-scratch".

More than 149.4 billion yuan of lottery tickets were sold nationwide in the first quarter of this year, up nearly 20 percent or 24.6 billion yuan year-on-year, according to China's Ministry of Finance. According to the first financial reporter's calculation, during this period, the national per capita purchase lottery amount of about 106 yuan.

Sales rose more than 80% in the first quarter of this year

Specific to the instant lottery, in the first quarter of this year, this type of lottery sales accounted for 26.1% of the overall lottery sales, a total of 38.9 billion yuan, 17.4 billion yuan more than the same period last year, a year-on-year increase of 81.4%. Sales for the whole of last year more than doubled to 119 billion yuan.

"Scratch" and "top guak" are sought after by lottery players, and related shops have also increased. A total of 2,105 lottery-related companies were registered in the first four months of this year, an increase of 158.9 percent year on year, according to data from Qiacha, a Chinese business inquiry platform. There are reports that the instant lottery has been unable to meet market demand, and the market is out of stock to give the store quota.

In fact, instant lottery tickets have been around in China for years, being sold openly in large gymnasiums during holidays as early as the 1980s. According to the Securities Times network review, the purchase of instant lottery had a strong sense of atmosphere, and lottery players were susceptible to emotional infection. The lottery is also very lively, and the radio will shout that so-and-so has won a bicycle, a color TV, and encourage lottery players to continue to buy.

However, instant lotteries soon gave way to digital lotteries. In small cities, when the house price is still about 1,000 yuan, the highest prize of 5 million yuan is a huge number, many people dream of winning the prize and getting rich, staring at the lottery broadcast on TV.

Society is increasingly seeking immediacy

Today, instant lotteries are popular again, especially among the younger generation. The analysis generally believes that the core key to the popularity of this kind of lottery is that "buy, scratch, open, middle, and exchange" is easy to bring immediate experience, surprise and satisfaction.

Chinese society is increasingly looking for immediacy, but digital lotteries can take days to draw, and many young people want to know the results right now, so instant lotteries are more attractive to young people and can meet their need for excitement, which stimulates their demand for such lotteries.

Instant lotteries have a high percentage of prize money, which is another reason for the popularity of lotteries. According to the relevant regulations, that is, the proportion of refund prize is 65%, and the proportion of refund prize is the highest in the lottery; The public welfare fund is 20% and the distribution fee is 15%.

In addition, lottery agencies in recent years to expand sales channels, in addition to the commercial complex began to decorate fashionable flagship stores, but also opened stores to bustling food streets, subway commercial streets, etc., and even opened pop-up stores, or with milk tea shops, hamburger restaurants, etc., gradually changing the young people's impression of traditional lottery stores stale.

Lottery agencies also design the lottery beautifully, and often change the design and play, by making it more interesting to attract young people. Many Internet celebrities and young bloggers also posted videos of themselves scratching lottery tickets online. Under the crowd effect, lottery gradually became popular among the young generation with fashion elements, and became a new trend for them to give gifts and even socialize. For example, send lottery flowers on a friend's birthday, send lottery tickets when attending a wedding, and so on.

High lottery cost

From the supply side, Su Guojing, founder of China lottery industry Salon, analyzed to the "Voice of China" that instant lottery is the most expensive category of all lottery varieties, involving design, printing, logistics and distribution costs, and the limited distribution budget restricts the number of printed tickets.

Su Guojing explained that China's lottery issuance fee is often the approved budget amount of the previous year and cannot be modified at will. "The lottery agency will budget all the expenses it plans to spend next year this year, and then submit them to the financial department for approval." Once the budget is approved, it cannot be easily revised, so when the sales volume of a given year suddenly changes, there will be an imbalance between supply and demand.

Wanlian Securities investment adviser Qu Fang believes that the reason for the popularity of instant lottery is that there are no large-scale sports events this year, resulting in limited growth space for guessing lottery. Secondly, the traditional welfare lottery is affected by negative news, leading to the diversion of lottery buyers.

Some analysts believe that the reason why the instant lottery is sought after this time is that there are no large-scale sports events this year, resulting in limited space for the growth of the guessing lottery. Secondly, the traditional welfare lottery is affected by negative news, leading to the diversion of lottery buyers. (Internet)

Since the launch of Chinese lottery, there have been many negative news such as cheating and black curtain. For example, people in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, spent nearly 100,000 yuan to win 220 million yuan in a lottery last December, and successfully avoided paying taxes, causing netizens to question. Jiangxi Province lucky lottery center publicity department staff denied the "insider" claim, and said that the identity of the winner could not be revealed, causing a greater backlash in public opinion.

In addition to the objective supply and demand imbalance, instant lottery may also face official conscious sales control. Su Guojing said: "After all, it is risky and game-like, when sales growth is too fast, the relevant departments have the responsibility to take appropriate regulatory measures to prevent related risks for long-term healthy development."

Do public good in entertainment

Wang Xuehong, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Financial Sciences, reminded that the development of the industry must be careful and do what it can. "Lottery is an entertainment product for consumption, not an investment behavior. It is recommended that the public buy it from the perspective of public welfare, do public welfare in entertainment, and may be lucky to win big or small prizes."

Since the "scratch-off" craze exploded, some people have indeed become addicted to it. "I have been looking forward to my own chance to get rich. I don't pay attention to small prizes such as 50 yuan or 100 yuan. If I occasionally win 500 yuan or 1,000 yuan, I will only want to win more," the China Business Daily quoted one compulsive lottery player as saying.

"I wanted to quit several times, but as soon as I got off work, I unconsciously ran to the lottery shop, and once I got to the store, I immediately 'went to the top' and didn't stop until I lost hundreds of yuan."

He may not be the only one who impulsively plunks into the lottery shop. In recent years, as China's economic restructuring has intensified the pressure of social competition, it is understandable that some people hope to change their lives and even become rich through luck, but excessive lottery consumption can also lead to problems such as personal finances and even gambling.

From this point of view, the whirlwind caused by "scratch-off" has led to the sale of lottery tickets, which may be a good thing, in addition to temporarily cooling the lottery market, but also to keep lottery players calm and rational to avoid indulgence.