William Goitía moves between the cars waving a fan of lottery tickets that he sells to drivers in Caracas. The jackpot: half a million dollars.
At least three large lotuses have re-emerged in Venezuela in the last year and a half, driven by an informal dollarization that the government allowed as an escape valve in the face of the acute crisis.
Playing the lottery is part of the Venezuelan DNA and for decades raffles were held that distributed millionaire prizes in bolivars. Even the late former president Hugo Chávez did not touch them when he banned casinos and bingos in 2011.
But the local currency was shattered by hyperinflation, making those prizes less attractive. Offer “a fat man” in dollars was unthinkable, even illegal.
With the easing of strict exchange control in 2018, things took a turn. The Triple Gordo, sold by Goitía, today has a prize of 500,000 dollars for 5 a ticket.
“We really have quite high sales”tells AFP this 55-year-old graphic designer, a seller for six months.
In addition to the Triple Gordo, relaunched on January 1, 2022, this year the Kino Táchira also returned, which became the most popular draw in the country and this week has an accumulated jackpot of $750,000.
The Kino, at its peak, came to distribute the equivalent of 2 million dollars in 1998.
These are prizes that are small compared to other lotteries in the world that deliver hundreds of millions of dollars, but in Venezuela, where salaries rarely exceed 100 dollars, 500,000 is a fortune that allows you to dream.
“Exhaust”
The atmosphere is frantic in the television studio: the balls are in the machine, the lights come on and the entertainers take a deep breath. It is the first transmission of “The Crazy Ball”from the Zulia Lottery, which distributes “half stick”, $500,000.
“We were more than 18, 20 years old that we did not have a millionaire product or a fat one at the national level”explains Merlín Rodríguez, president of this lottery dependent on the government of that oil state (west), badly hit by the crisis.
“This sector is growing without a doubt”, continues Rodríguez, with national investments -private and public- and foreign.
The crisis massively reduced ticket sales points -90% in Zulia, according to Rodríguez- and the operators opted for methods ranging from home delivery to courier services.
“Before, there were more than 80,000 points of sale in Venezuela (…) and now there are not even 2,000”explains Ricardo Bravo Vargas, a businessman linked to the entertainment industry who has another lottery game on the horizon in Cojedes (central west).
“The digital model is imposed, because everyone, or almost everyone, has a cell phone. They are going to buy, play and charge for the cell phone”go on.
“The resurgence of this industry linked to games is proportional to the crisis”Add.
“Most countries in crisis randomly seek an escape route to lower the pressure. Haiti is an example, a country with such great poverty and an average of 3 million dollars is played there every day. And since the pandemic this has gotten worse, not only in Venezuela but throughout the world.”remarks the businessman.
The economy has again shown signs of stagnation in 2023 after breaking almost eight years of recession in 2022; but dollarization remains firm and is a “core element” of this resurgence of lotteries, estimates the economist Asdrúbal Oliveros.
“The currency in circulation is much greater than the currency in bolivars. It is obvious that these prizes will be dollarized” and “in terms of Dollars Yes, they can be significant. Oliver explains.
It is common in Venezuela for regional governments, such as Zulia, to run lotteries. The Kino is from the Táchira Lottery (west), administered by the government of that state, and the Triple Gordo from the Oriente Lottery, Monagas (east).
Thus, according to Oliveros, the raffles serve as “alternate sources of income” as central government budget allocations decrease due to lack of cash.
“I make my move”
No one took half a million in the first drawing of “The Crazy Ball”which had some 3,200 minor prize winners.
In the studio is Franyerlis Diaz, 26, who won $1,000 in a previous side draw on social media.
He can’t stop laughing as he receives an envelope with cash.
“I grew up in that world of the lottery”, remember. “I gave my dad little letters saying ‘I love you dad’ and what he had written down on the back was (draw numbers for) Chance A, Chance B, and how much he was going to play.”
The tradition continues with street vendors like Goitía, who earns $60 for every 100 tickets sold.
Goitía says that in a good week he can pocket between 80 and 100 dollars, 20 times the minimum monthly wage, which covers the basics for his family. And when he catches up with him, he plays.
“I also risk, I play trying my luck”, account. “I’ve earned 100, 200 and odd dollars.”
But his dream, of course, is the biggest prize.
Source: AFP
Source: Gestion
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