How Taiwan's Consumer Reward Scheme Has Increased Government Revenue

Part of any anti-illicit product strategy should ideally include measures to reduce consumer demand for illicit products in the first place. While such measures could include imposing penalties on consumers for buying illicit goods, Taiwan has gone in the opposite direction with a scheme that rewards consumers for buying genuine, compliant goods.

The scheme is actually a huge national lottery, where instead of buying a lottery ticket, the public can use everyday receipts obtained from buying groceries at a local store as lottery tickets. Even a receipt for a tiny purchase, such as a bottle of water from a 7/11, can count as a lottery ticket as long as it is printed with a QR code and serial number, which act as the lottery number.

The Taiwanese government is very keen on this system because it has proven popular with consumers, who are motivated to only make purchases from law-abiding, tax-paying establishments that issue these coded receipts. So it’s a win-win situation. The government collects revenue from taxes, which are now getting paid, and the consumer is able to participate in the lottery via the receipts, without having to buy a ticket.

‘It took me a long time to get motivated enough to figure this one out,’ said one consumer in a blog post. ‘I was intimidated, or overwhelmed, not knowing how the whole thing works and expecting it to be a big hassle. But it’s really very easy! If you’re buying virtually anything, then you are already playing. So, you might as well find out if you’re winning!’ The consumer explains that on the 25th of each odd-numbered month, there is a draw for the previous two-month period. So the draw for January and February receipts would be on 25 March, after which the public has three months to claim any prize money.

‘Here’s a typical receipt from Family Mart,’ said the consumer (see image hereunder). ‘110 03-04 indicates the receipt lottery draw period. 110 is the year (in the Chinese calendar), and 03-04 are the months. The number below the draw period, LL-89390826, will be your lottery number. If you can match the last three numbers, 826, you’re a winner!’ 

And those people lucky enough to match all eight digits of a number can win up to TWD 10,000,000 ($362,000). So definitely worth the effort.

The draws are posted on the Taiwan Ministry of Finance website for the public to compare receipts against. There are also a number of apps that have been developed to scan and store the receipts for you, as well as identify if a prize has been won, by scanning the QR code on the receipts.

In the case of a winning number, the holder needs to fill in the information on the back of the receipt, including name, phone number and winning amount. Prizes of TWD 1,000 ($36) or less can be collected at different grocery stores and anything higher than that can only be redeemed at a bank.

‘By playing the Taiwan Receipt Lottery I would say we’ve averaged around TWD 400 ($14.50) for each two-month period, sometimes more,’ reported the happy consumer.