Prime Minister of Latvia Maris Kucinskis approved the idea of the national check lottery that has recently been put forward by the Parliament of the Republic of Latvia. According to him, it would attract extra funds to the country budget due to retail taxes.

As commented by Prime Minister, the Latvians rarely demand checks for goods and services, which is one of the reasons for lack of taxes by means of budget. What is more, this state of things is beneficial for retailers as they can conceal the revenue. Check lottery can bring a large amount of money, which will motivate citizens to save checks and prevent traders from getting unregistered funds. As counted by Maris Kucinskis, the lottery would collect about extra €3 m not taking into account the money given for winners. The project has to be implemented for at least a couple of years so that citizens get used to checks.

Such lotteries have already been introduced in a couple of European countries.

In Slovakia, the check lottery has been functioning for a long time bringing about €200 m within the first three months.

In Latvia, a similar project will be launched in November 2017. The annual prize is €173 000 while the general sum of prizes varies from €200 to €5 000.

In the Czech Republic, the lottery will see its start on October 1. Drawings will be conducted on the 15th of each month. The prize fund is not specified yet.

Latvia is likely to use the experience of other countries to establish its own national check lottery. All existing projects involve the introduction of the unified check that can be used as a lottery ticket. Moreover, one can register it on a website or a mobile app.

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