First Issuance of the Patriot Lottery

First Patriot Lottery was issued by the Bank of Taiwan on behalf of Taiwan Provincial Government on April 11, 1950. A lottery ticket was NT$15 each. Due to the overly expensive price of the lottery tickets, the response was unenthusiastic.

As a result, the government reduced the price of each lottery ticket to NT$5 and reset the top prize up to NT$20,000, which was sufficient to afford to purchase a house in downtown Taipei. As the price of each lottery ticket gradually reached NT$100, and the top prize then set at NT$10,000,000, and with more frequent drawings, or on the 5th, the 15th, and the 25th of each month, more people started purchasing lottery tickets hoping to win the lottery and become a billionaire.

At that time, “Song of the Patriot Lottery” could often be heard around the street corners, describing the deeply echoed anticipation of many ordinary citizens who all wanted to win a lottery.

With the strong and vigorous economic growth in Taiwan around the year 1987, the needed capital resources for further development had been replaced by other taxes or revenues, and in order to effectively curb the rising illegal lottery, or the Da Chia Ler (winning prize with lottery numbers that were based on the drawn numbers of the Patriot Lottery), the issuance of the Patriot Lottery was therefore suspended in January 1988.