Japanese lottery destroys ¥1 billion in prizes due to unsold tickets.

Two winning lottery tickets in Japan were returned unsold at a lottery outlet in Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, and were destroyed before their numbers were drawn. In total, the discarded tickets represented ¥1 billion in prizes.

The incident was reported by the Shimotsuke Shimbun newspaper and occurred at the Utsunomiya Bell Mall Chance Center in the Yoto ward. The establishment had received Summer Jumbo Premium tickets, but approximately one thousand units remained unsold and were returned to the bank responsible for the transaction, as reported by Alternativa Online.

After the draw, held this Tuesday (August 12), lottery employees discovered that two of the returned tickets had the winning numbers; one corresponded to the first prize of ¥800 million, and the other to the second prize of ¥200 million.

"It was a shock to discover that there were winning tickets among those that remained," an employee of the establishment told the Shimotsuke Shimbun.

How does disposal work?

According to the rules of the Official Japanese Lottery, unsold tickets are returned to the responsible bank before the drawing. The system records the numbers and destroys the papers to prevent any further use. Thus, even if a winning number is among those remaining, no prize is paid out.

The three tickets involved in the incident were part of individual tickets sold separately, called bara in Japan . In addition to the two unsold tickets, a third ticket also passed through the same sales point and was sold. Its buyer received ¥200 million, corresponding to the prize for the number immediately preceding first place.

Remember that it didn't come.

If all three tickets had been sold, the Utsunomiya Bell Mall Chance Center would have distributed ¥1,2 billion in a single draw. According to the Shimotsuke Shimbun, this amount would surpass the largest prize ever recorded by a lottery outlet in Tochigi Prefecture in a single draw. The current record belongs to a Loto 7 ticket, which won ¥1.002.473.400 last November in Tochigi City.

The Summer Jumbo Premium lottery debuted in 2026 with the largest prize in the history of Jumbo lotteries, according to the Japan Official Lottery. First place pays ¥800 million, while the numbers immediately before and after the winner receive ¥200 million each, totaling up to ¥1,2 billion. Each ticket was sold for ¥500.

Mizuho Bank, which operates the lottery, reported that the first prize went to ticket number 129547, from group 14.