Written by Finance Twitter
KUALA LUMPUR (politicsnowmy.blogspot.com) - From north to south, people were drawn to one common goal – to strike the largest ever Sports Toto 4D Jackpot in Malaysian history – RM121 million. Even if they could win just 1% of the jackpot, they would become an instant millionaire. Suddenly, Toto betting outlets nationwide attracted long queues of unfamiliar faces, unlike normal days when they were quite deserted.
In the northern state of Kedah, where the extremist and radical ruling Islamic government PAS had already outlawed and shut down all its 45 gaming outlets since January 2023, punters or first-timers flocked to nearby Penang state to try their luck. In the southern state of Johor, there was a sudden spike of people from neighbouring Singapore paying a visit.
Depending on the location of the outlets, incredible long queues could be seen stretching into the streets, with many punters even braving the rain, just to buy their tickets. Based on their conversations and queries at the ticket counters, it was obvious that many had no idea how to play the game. Young people – male and female – bought tickets as if they were going to a movie.
Sports Toto Jackpot RM121 Million - Long Queues In The Street
But each ticket at Sports Toto costs only RM2, unlike tickets at cinemas. You don’t need a rocket scientist to convince punters to bet RM2 in a game to win RM121 million. After all, RM2 can hardly buy you a cup of “teh tarik”, let alone a plate of chicken rice. Besides, if you don’t try your luck, there is zero chance to retire young, retire rich. That was the psychology which saw the extraordinary long queues.
While some punters meticulously tried to strategize their luck with numbers derived from birthdate or age from family members, others simply asked for computer-generated random tickets at the counters. There is no fixed formula, just based on pure luck. And this round, four extremely lucky punters have finally won the jackpot on Saturday (Jan 18, 2025), after the prize money snowballed from just RM100 million a day earlier on Friday.
Even at RM100 million, the Sports Toto’s Supreme 6/58 Jackpot Game had already broken the previous highest jackpot amount in 2022 (RM97.75 million). Sports Toto announced that three winners will walk away with RM34.92 million each (a “Standard Play” winner and two “System Play” winners), while one winner will be RM16.96 million richer.
Sports Toto Jackpot RM121 Million Has Been Won
In Standard Play, simply pay RM2 and choose “six numbers” from a set of numbers from 1 to 58. If your six numbers match all the numbers drawn for the Supreme Toto 6/58, you will win the jackpot price of at least RM8,888,888. If there is no winner for that particular draw, the jackpot amount will be brought forward to the next draw. Other than that, you still can win the second, third and fourth prize.
In System Play, the game is similar to the “Pau” (covered all permutations or combinations) concept in Toto 4D. But unlike the Standard Play, here you need to pick 7 to 15 numbers of your choice to cover all possible combinations. Of course, the more numbers you play, the higher chances of winning, and the more you have to pay for the bets – ranging from RM14 for 7 numbers to RM10,010 for 15 numbers.
In EZ-Bet method, you are given more chance to win with smaller bets, starting with 9 numbers for System 9 up to System 15. This game, which is like “ibox share”, will cost RM84 for 9 numbers play and goes all the way to RM286 for 15 numbers. Again, the more numbers you play, the higher chances of winning, and the more money you need to spend betting the numbers.
Sports Toto Jackpot - System 15 Ticket
However, because the odds of winning the jackpot in Supreme Toto 6/58 is 1 in 40,475,358 (0.00000247%) – the worst odds of betting games in Malaysia – it’s easier to get hit by lightning (less than one in a million in a given year) than hitting the jackpot, not to mention almost 90% of all lightning strike victims actually survive. In other words, you could be struck by lightning 40 times in a year before reaching the odds of jackpot.
But most people bought RM2 tickets for fun and as far as they are concerned, it’s 50:50 chance to win or lose. It doesn’t matter whether you splash RM50,000 or just RM2 to buy. If luck is on your side, a RM2 ticket is enough to win the jackpot. Theoretically, you can win the jackpot if you have RM80 million to buy all the permutations or combinations. But you have to pray nobody hits the jackpot and share the RM121 million with you.
People were actually buying a “hope”, and there was a case where a punter brought his pet snake to purchase a ticket, believing the slithery serpent would bring him good luck in the coming Year of the Snake. At another Sports Toto outlet, the betting fever reached a boiling point when several punters got into a fistfight, but no one stepped in to stop the fight. Heck, some even dressed like the “God of Wealth”.
The man who laughed the loudest all the way to the bank was none other than the owner of public-listed Sports Toto – billionaire Vincent Tan Chee Yioun, who has a 51.15% stake in the company. Sport Toto’s prize calculation rules allocate 65% of the betting pool plus a fixed RM8,888,888 bonus to the jackpot, which means Vincent Tan keeps the remaining 35% of ticket collections.
The massive jackpot has provided a free advertising for Sports Toto and could boost the revenue of gaming company as well as its stock price. The actual payout structure means you will never get the full amount of jackpot as it is distributed proportionally based on individual bet amounts for multiple winners. Still, you can bet people will spend long hours lining up for a ticket the next time the jackpot prize shoots up again.
Written by Finance Twitter, https://www.financetwitter.com
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