Total Lotto sales in Korea last year of 3.9 trillion won ($3.45 billion) set a 15-year record, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance on Tuesday.

As one ticket costs 1,000 won, the sales volume last year from January to December equals some 3.9 billion games.

The year’s sales topped 3.8 billion won in 2003 and sales volume of 3.7 billion games in 2017. 

The 2018 records translate into each person in South Korea buying 76.8 games, spending 76,800 won on average.

Half of last year’s sales, 1.9 trillion won, was used as prize money in the weekly draws conducted throughout the year.

The largest prize purse received was about 59 billion won on Sept. 1, 2018 while the smallest was slightly over 1 billion won on April 14.

Although the sales of Lotto hit its highest number last year, the rate of increase in sales volume decreased by 2.1 percentage points compared to 2017.

“The increase rate of game sales slowed down as no new Lotto store opened last year. Although Lotto started selling on the internet last month, there were no notable increase in sales and it is expected to have no significant effect on sales this year,” said an official from the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

By Kim Hye-soo (clairek@heraldcorp.com)