Lotteries cash in on dreams of wealth
The Swiss spent a franc a day on lottery tickets last year, amounting to SFr2.83 billion ($2.68 billion) in total.
That was slightly less than in 2008, however, when SFr2.85 billion was generated, the Federal Justice Office said on Thursday.
Swiss Lotto remains the most popular draw across the country with turnover of SFr547 million, an increase SFr2.3 million compared to 2008.
The two companies that manage the lotteries in Switzerland, Swisslos and Loterie Romande, turned over SFr545 million of the proceeds to support projects at the cantonal level, as well as sport associations.
The lottery made the headlines in early July when a resident of central Switzerland redeemed a winning ticket from a draw in January, earning nearly SFr5 million.
He found his ticket just in time. Since no winner had come forward for six months, Swisslos had announced the money would go to public projects.
swissinfo.ch and agencies
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
Newsletters
Contributions under this article have been turned off. You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.