The lottery, introduced by the Finance Ministry led by Igor Matovič, should motivate people to get vaccinated against Covid. (source: TASR)
People can now register for the vaccination lottery and win cash prizes from €1,000 to €100,000.
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The Finance Ministry launched registration through the Bytzdravyjevyhra.sk website on the evening of August 1.
Originally, the registration was supposed to open at noon but was actually launched around 18:30. The ministry has not explained what caused the delay, the Sme daily reported.
The lottery is open for anyone who has been vaccinated against Covid. Apart from the lottery, people can win a special bonus if they successfully persuade others to get vaccinated.
Registration for the lottery and the special bonus will be open until October 31, 2021. The state has allocated about €855,000 a week for prizes in the lottery drawing, which means that total costs will amount to nearly €10 million, the Denník E economic newspaper reported.
The bonus for persuading others to get vaccinated will vary, based on the age of the inoculated person.
Although the ministry, led by Igor Matovič (OĽaNO), wants to use the lottery to persuade more people to get vaccinated, the recent poll carried out by the Slovak Academy of Sciences, the MNFORCE company and the Seesame agency suggests that only 18 percent of respondents would reconsider getting vaccinated if they were offered money, Sme wrote.
How it will work
Everybody interested in entering the lottery will have to register on the Bytzdravyjevyhra.sk website. Registration is open to anyone over the age of 18 who has been vaccinated in Slovakia and has permanent residence in Slovakia.
The lottery is open to all vaccinated people, regardless of when they received the vaccine or which type of vaccine they received. This means that those who were among the first to receive the shot will also be able to register.
Every registered person will remain in the database during all rounds of the draw, the Finance Ministry said.
After the data is checked, people will be automatically registered. Those who are fully vaccinated will have double the chance of winning. People will receive a confirmation on registration within seven days through a text message and an email, together with an identification number.
The drawings for basic and standard prizes will take place on Mondays and broadcast by the public-service RTVS on Mondays through Fridays. The data from the lottery ticket (the identifier, name, surname and the town/village where the winner lives) will be published in the programme and on the website, and people will also be informed through an email or text message. The basic prize amounts to €1,000 while the standard prize is €10,000.
The automatic (€1,000) and premium (€100,000) prizes will be drawn on Sunday evenings.
The winners of the premium prize will have to watch the drawing since the presenter will call them during the broadcast and winners have to pick up the phone within 20 seconds after the first ring. They will have to answer the question or recite a password that was said or shown during the broadcast.
The drawing will be held for 12 weeks, with the first one scheduled for August 15-20, 2021. During the last drawing week, which will consist of a single day (October 31), only automatic and premium prizes will be drawn. All prizes will be taxed 19 percent automatically, so the winner does not have to state the prize in their tax return.
Bonus for “mediators”
Apart from the lottery, people older than 18 with a permanent residence in Slovakia who manage to motivate others to get vaccinated in Slovakia will be entitled to a bonus if the vaccinated person registers for the lottery after August 1.
Once the vaccinated person registers, they will receive a specific code that they will then give to the “mediator,” according to the ministry.
The sum the mediator receives should depend on the age of the vaccinated person (€30 for people younger than 50; €60 for people aged 50-59 years, or €90 for people aged 60+).
The “mediator” will receive the bonus only after the vaccinated person receives the second shot (in the case of two-dose vaccines) or one shot (in the case of a single-dose vaccine) no later than October 31, 2021. Once they are fully vaccinated, they have seven days to register their “mediator.” One person can receive a bonus for a maximum of 50 people he/she has persuaded.
People who were fully immunised between July 1 and August 1 will have to register their mediators within seven days after the system is launched, i.e. by August 7, the ministry added.
This bonus will not be taxed.
