Thailand launches retirement lottery to boost savings for low-income earners

The Cabinet has introduced a new savings initiative for low-income individuals titled the retirement lottery, which offers enticing prizes to encourage saving.

Deputy Finance Minister Paopoom Rojanasakul announced the Cabinet’s approval of this measure, aimed at bolstering savings under the National Savings Fund (NSF) through the Retirement Savings Lottery project.

The NSF will amend relevant sections of its Act to facilitate the implementation of the Retirement Lottery project.

Under the project’s guidelines, individuals can purchase digital scratch-off lottery tickets via the NSF app at 50 baht (US$1.4) each, with a monthly cap of 3,000 baht (US$ 83).

The retirement lottery will release 5 million tickets weekly, with prize draws scheduled every Friday at 5pm.

Five top winners will receive a first prize of 1,000,000 baht (US$27,800) each, while 10,000 second prize winners will be awarded 1,000 baht (US$28) each. Winners can withdraw their prize money immediately. Any unclaimed prizes will roll over to the subsequent draw.

Regardless of winning status, the money spent on these tickets will be saved in the buyer’s NSF savings account and will be accessible upon reaching 60 years of age.

Funds in these accounts will accrue investment returns throughout the pre-retirement period via the NSF.

The lottery considered an innovative savings promotion tool, primarily targets informal workers who lack a structured retirement savings system. Currently, there are approximately 20 million informal workers out of a total workforce of 37.5 million. Since its inception in 2015, the NSF has attracted only 2.76 million members, reported Bangkok Post.

As of June 30, the NSF’s net investment value, encompassing workers’ savings and government contributions, stood at 11.8 billion baht (US$ 328 million).

In related news, Thailand faces a growing issue of an ageing population entering retirement without sufficient savings. This problem is exacerbated by the country’s rapid transition into an aged society, and cannot be resolved merely through increased budget allocations for elderly allowances.

Deputy Finance Minister Paophum Rojanasakul announced that the Ministry of Finance is considering a new policy called the Retirement Savings Lottery.