It has been reported that the minimum bet for the Toto draw will be increased from 50 cents to $1, with the minimum guaranteed prize money going up proportionately from $500,000 to at least $1 million.
However, punters will have to pick a set of six numbers from 49, up from the current 45, raising [Ed. the author means "lowering"] the odds of winning the grand prize from one in eight million to one in 14 million – a 75 per cent rise.
A minimum bet of 50 cents is affordable to the man in the street and is unlikely to impoverish anyone. But whenever the prize money is increased substantially, such as in the Hongbao draw, long queues would form at betting outlets. There are also long queues when the grand prize has not been won for some time and snowballs into a huge sum. The bigger the prize pot, the more buzz is created and the more bets are placed.
It is already very difficult to win at Toto. With rising odds, the likelihood of there being no winners for each draw increases exponentially.
We can expect more Toto draws with accumulated prizes of well over $10 million. In some countries, the amount can hit over $100 million, with the public going into a betting frenzy with each winnerless draw that fattens the next prize pot.
Is this beneficial to Singapore? Are we adding to the allure of gambling with increased prize monies, especially if they snowball into very large sums?
How many punters will understand that they have to pay double to have a chance in a game where the odds of winning are now much higher?
Kuo How Nam
* Letter first appeared in ST Forum (5 Sep).