S. Korea to launch system to automatically pay lottery prizes

SEOUL, Aug. 11 (Yonhap) -- The South Korean lottery commission announced plans to introduce an automatic payment system for lottery prizes on Tuesday, aiming to tackle the growing issue of unclaimed winnings. The Korea Lottery Commission, part of the budget ministry, will enable ticket purchasers to register their paper tickets via Payco, a local mobile payment application, beginning the following week.

This service will alert users if their tickets have won and subsequently disburse any unclaimed prizes on the final day of the claim period. As of 2025, an estimated 58.1 billion won (US$41 million) in prize money for the popular Lotto game remained unclaimed, primarily consisting of smaller amounts such as 50,000 won or 5,000 won.

Unlike online purchases, offline ticket sales pose challenges in identifying buyers, resulting in unclaimed winnings exceeding the one-year deadline being allocated to the state lottery fund for public programs. The commission hopes this new system will strengthen public trust in the lottery by facilitating claims, even for relatively small amounts.