Over its seven-year activity, the National Lottery of Moldova offered more than 11 million in prizes, including two jackpots: 1,801,533 lei in March 2014, and 1,387,234 in April 2017.

Responding to an inquiry from IPN, the Lottery said it had over 14,000 winners since its inception.

The National Lottery of Moldova was incorporated as a fully state-owned joint-stock company in 2011. In 2017, it formally changed hands, being transferred from the Ministry of Finance into the ownership of the Public Property Agency. Its share capital, both at incorporation and upon transfer, was 250,000 lei.

Since it was founded, the company has run only one gambling game, which is the “Millions for Moldova” lottery, a classical format where winning tickets are determined based on drawing numbers. Players can now only play by phone, by sending any 6 numbers (1-36) via SMS to the short number 7575.

The prize pool is 50% of the revenue, as the other half goes to cover costs and taxes. Since its foundation and until July 2017, the company brought the state 5.82 million lei in taxes and dividends. The company deducted 1.66 million lei in income taxes from the winners.

Each week the lottery sells somewhere between 6 and 10 thousand SMS “tickets” priced at 8 lei each. Numbers are drawn every Sunday and all the “tickets” registered until 5:40 PM participate. All the “tickets” registered later on Sunday are postponed until the next weekly cycle.