Czech Republic to release receipt lottery

Czech Republic is set to release a new receipt lottery by October as part of the electronic cash register system launched in 2016 to help fight tax evasion.

According to the local daily Hospodářské noviny, under this new scheme receipts will act as lottery tickets in a draw. Players will be able to register free of charge through a mobile app or website; however, they will only be able to buy one receipt per day in order to prevent illicit transactions.

The Ministry of Finance will be in charge of controlling the lottery results and will present a report in a year to evaluate its efficiency. The aim of the receipt lottery is to motivate people to insist on getting receipts for their purchases.

According to the Ministry of Finance, Ivan Pilný, the benefits of the scheme should exceed the operational expenses: distributing over 65m crowns a year in winnings, whilst tackling tax evasion. It is expected that each month the state will give away over 20,000 prizes. The winner will receive a cheque for one million crowns, and the second prize will be a car worth 400,000 crowns. Other winners will receive prize money ranging between 300,000 and 20,000 crowns.

Similar lotteries have already been launched in several countries across Europe, including Croatia, Slovakia or Slovenia. As in Czech Republic, the main reason was to motivate customers to demand receipts for their purchases. For instance, Slovakia rolled out receipt lottery in 2013; and in two years they were able to reduce transactions carried out without receipt by 50%.

The Electronic Cash register, designed to provide the state with immediate information about cash transactions at venues, was launched in December. Pubs, restaurants and accommodation providers were the first to start using the system, followed by retailers in March of this year. Other business, including lawyers, doctors or accountants, will need to register in the system in 2018.