Costa Rica - Lotto

Lotto

Lotto is Costa Rica’s only traditional lottery and one of the country’s most popular draw games.

Draws take place twice a week on Wednesday and Saturdayevenings at 19:30 local time. Tickets can be purchased up to 15 minutes before the draw, with sales resuming immediately afterward.

Tickets cost CRC 600.

To play Lotto, participants must choose five numbers from 0 to 40. Alternatively, players can choose a Gallo Tapado (Quick Pick) for randomly generated numbers.

For an additional CRC 400, players can enter the Revancha (Revenge) draw using the same numbers chosen for Lotto. Revancha has the same format and prize structure as the main game, with an uncapped jackpot in the event of rollovers, but with smaller secondary prizes.

Jackpot

Lotto doesn’t have a minimum guaranteed jackpot, which is instead dependent on ticket sales; however, Lotto has no rollover or jackpot caps, with the jackpot frequently reaching significant sums. Each time the jackpot fails to be won, it increases by a minimum of CRC 5 million for the subsequent draw.

The biggest Lotto jackpot to date was CRC 1 billion in August 2018.

Odds and Prizes

The odds of winning the Lotto jackpot are 1 in 749,398, and although these are fantastic odds for a lottery game, other global lotteries offer better prizes at similar odds.

Players can win prizes at three additional tiers in addition to the jackpot. Prizes at all secondary tiers are fixed, with prizes established at:

• CRC 50,000 for matching four numbers.
• CRC 5,000 for matching three numbers.
• CRC 600 for matching two numbers.

Payout and Taxes

Players have up to 60 days to claim Lotto winnings. Prizes of less than CRC 10,000 can be claimed directly from any lottery retailer, while winners of higher value prizes must get in touch with the lottery operator.

All prizes are paid out as lump sums, with 10% tax being deducted by the operator at source and the advertised amount being paid out in full. As such, prize winners do not need to declare winnings for tax purposes.

Who Can Play Lotto?

Players must be at least 21 years of age to buy Lotto tickets, which are available from authorized lottery vendors across Costa Rica.

Winning numbers and further game information are available from the official website and mobile app, but tickets are not sold on these platforms.

Lotto entry is not currently available to overseas players.

History of Lotto

While lotteries have been played in Costa Rica since the early 1800s, Lotto is a relatively new game that has only been around since 2014. Like all lotteries in Costa Rica, Lotto is operated by Junta de Proteccion Social, which distributes its proceeds to a variety of charitable causes.