BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING

Japan's lottery rakes in declining revenues as younger generation gives jackpot chances a pass

PR campaigns, bigger prizes fail to stir jackpot frenzy with the young

Lottery tickets to help fund the costs for the Tokyo Olympics in 2020 are sold in Tokyo's Minato Ward on Wednesday. Many local governments benefit from sales of tickets for Takarakuji, the trademarked name for the lottery in Japan. But despite efforts to generate more interest, lotteries are not as popular with the younger generation as they used to be. | YOSHIAKI MIURA

By Masako Tsubuku and Philip Brasor
Special To The Japan Times

Sep 8, 2017

Several weeks ago Mavis Wanczyk, a 53-year-old woman from Massachusetts, won $758 million in the Powerball lottery — the largest single winner jackpot in North American history. Wanczyk said at a news conference that she had already quit her job and plans to "hide in bed."

Wanczyk's joke is easy to understand. Now that she's rich she will undoubtedly be the target of salespersons, charities and others who would like to get a piece of her sudden fortune. Reportedly, her home is under police protection.

In Japan, that wouldn't happen — or, it would be less likely to happen because the names of big winners of lotteries are not disclosed, though that probably has more to do with propriety than with caution.