A woman is the only winner of the state-organized fiscal lottery draw on April 17 and will get the RON 1 million (EUR 222,000) prize all for herself, reports local Digi24.

The lucky woman won the lottery with a RON 665 fiscal receipt from March 18. It is the first time when the monthly fiscal lottery draw has only one winner.

Romania started organizing fiscal lottery draws in April last year, hoping to decrease the weight of the black economy, and motivate people to ask for fiscal receipts whenever buying something.

At first, the lottery’s rules provided that the RON 1 million prize would be split among all those who had winning receipts. However, the authorities decided to change the rules after 18,000 people announced that they had winning receipts after the first draw, which led to a very little prize (some RON 55) and diminished the people’s interest for the following draws.

Now, the lottery can’t have more than 100 winners, which means that the minimum guaranteed prize is RON 10,000 (some EUR 2,220). However, if people submit more than 100 eligible receipts, only 100 winners are selected randomly.

Romania’s fiscal lottery draws didn’t respect the law

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com