Forgot to claim your lottery prize? Starting Tuesday, an app will do it for you

South Korea will introduce a system to automatically pay out unclaimed winnings on physical lottery tickets, amid growing concern that uncollected lotto prizes reached 58.1 billion won ($40.9 million) last year.

Starting Tuesday, buyers of physical lotto tickets at retail outlets will be able to register them in advance through a mobile payment app. If a winner fails to collect the prize before the payment deadline, the money will be automatically transferred to the registered bank account or credited as points.

The Ministry of Planning and Budget's Lottery Committee announced Tuesday that it had approved the measure — along with amendments to guidelines governing lottery issuance, management and sales — at its 191st plenary session, held in written form.

Total lottery sales have grown roughly 7.8-fold, from 980 billion won in 2002, when the lotto was launched, to 7.66 trillion won last year. Over the same period, the number of lottery retailers rose from 5,197 to 9,530.

The most notable change in the overhaul is the automatic payout of unclaimed winnings.

Buyers can scan the QR code on a paper lotto ticket and register it in the "Lottery Wallet" feature of the mobile payment app Payco. They will then receive regular notifications about whether the ticket has won and whether the prize has been collected. If the prize is not claimed by the payment deadline, it will be automatically paid out on that day — either as Payco points or as a cash transfer to the registered bank account.

Under current lottery law, the right to claim a lotto prize lapses if not exercised within one year of the payment start date. Online lottery purchases are tied to a verified buyer, making automatic payouts and winner notifications straightforward. Physical tickets sold at retail outlets, however, cannot be traced to a specific buyer, which has led to cases where winners either did not know they had won or simply forgot to collect before the deadline.

Unclaimed lotto winnings totaled 43 billion won in 2021, then fell to 41.3 billion won in 2022, before rising to 52.1 billion won in 2023 and dipping to 42.6 billion won in 2024. Last year the figure climbed to 58.1 billion won — a 35.1 percent increase over four years. About 6.59 million prizes expired and were transferred to the national treasury last year.

Most unclaimed prizes came from fourth- and fifth-tier winners, whose payouts are relatively small — 50,000 won for fourth place and 5,000 won for fifth. The Lottery Committee said the new system should reduce cases where small-prize winners overlook their winnings or delay collection until the deadline passes.

Registered tickets will receive push notifications around 9 p.m. on the day of the draw and again around 10 a.m. 30 days after the draw. Prizes of 2 million won or less will be paid as Payco points; prizes above that amount will be transferred in cash to the registered account after identity verification. High-value winners must authenticate their real-name information — including their name and resident registration number — for income tax reporting purposes.

The overhaul also aims to make buying lottery tickets more convenient. Real-time operating information for more than 9,500 lotto retailers nationwide will be available on Naver Maps and Kakao Map. To help boost retailer sales, the committee will pilot a voucher system for pension lottery tickets that companies can use as event prizes or giveaways; vouchers will be capped at 5,000 won and will not be available to minors. A separate initiative will promote lottery-funded local projects by displaying information about them on retailer banners, lottery envelopes and QR code screens.

The Lottery Committee will also hold an art contest on the theme of "How lottery funds have transformed our neighborhoods," open to anyone aged 19 or older. Submissions will be accepted through Sept. 11. The top prize winner will receive the Ministry of Planning and Budget minister's commendation and 1 million won in prize money; three runners-up will each receive 500,000 won; and six honorable mentions will each receive 200,000 won. Selected works will be used in the design of promotional materials, including the faces of Speetto and pension lottery tickets, retailer banners and lottery envelopes.

Cho Yong-beom, vice minister of the Ministry of Planning and Budget, said the overhaul would protect the rights of lottery buyers while also helping boost sales at retail outlets, which are largely run by people from vulnerable groups. "This will be an opportunity to strengthen public trust in the lottery system," he said. "We will continue to listen carefully to the public and pursue ongoing innovation."