Low-income families in Korea buy more lottery tickets in 2022: Statistics

People stand in a queue to buy lottery tickets in Seoul before the Lunar New Year holiday. [NEWS1]

Many low-income families bought more lottery tickets last year amid rising consumer prices, statistics showed.

According to the data from the Korean Statistical Information Service (Kosis) Wednesday, households spent 703 won (50 cents) per month buying lottery tickets last year, up 1.4 percent on year.

Though the increase is relatively moderate as a whole because the data also averaged in all households with two or more people who did not purchase tickets, it was a steeper increase for low-income households.

Households with incomes in the bottom quintile spent 27.4 percent more on the lottery than they did last year. Households in the top quintile spent 7.0 percent more.

The difference between the two ends’ spending on the lottery widened when inflation was taken into account.

The bottom quintile’s real expenditure rose 21.2 percent on year while the top quintile’s rose 1.8 percent.

The total amount of lotteries sold upped again this year and surpassed the 6-trillion-won mark for the first time at 6.43 trillion won.

In 2019, 4.8 trillion won worth of lottery tickets were sold, 5.4 trillion in 2020 and 5.98 in 2021.

Of the people older than 19 surveyed, 56.5 percent said they had purchased a lottery ticket in the past 12 months.

BY KIM EUN-BIN [sohn.dongjoo@joongang.co.kr]