PM Briceno Promotes Government’s One-and-a-Million Lottery to Support National Health Insurance

Prime Minister John Briceno is encouraging Belizeans to buy their tickets for the government’s one-and-a-million lottery. The game was launched this month to celebrate the anniversary of the Belize Government Lotteries Limited with the hope of providing some Christmas cheer for one or more lucky ticket holder. The game is also a way for the government to generate funds to support the National Health Insurance, as it looks to expand the scheme. Yesterday, PM Briceno spoke about the rationale behind the decision and what the government is looking to do with the profits.

John Briceño, Prime Minister of Belize: “What we’ve done is that Boledo is a game of statistics, a game of chance. So I’m looking at statistics. The people at the Boledo/ lottery believe that we can create enough hype to be able to sell more than a million dollars and to make money out of it.  Imagine you paying five dollars, you could potentially win a million dollars or half a million or a hundred thousand, depends on how many people win that. For five dollars, people are going to go for it. I mean, I must confess, in the United States sometimes I would buy the PowerBall whatever you call it, I pay my two dollars and you know what? I never check back if I win. Maybe won and I don’t know. But here in Belize, Belizeans know about it so I’m sure that a lot of people probably you already bought your number Paul ?”

Reporter: Is it a million flat or will it be a million minus some taxes?
John Briceño, Prime Minister of Belize: “No, no. Does Boledo pay taxes? The winnings don’t pay taxes, no. Yeah, yeah, but I could stand to be corrected, but I’m told that Boledo does not pay taxes. That goes to show, unfortunately, I don’t buy Boledo. I buy a lot of raffles, a lot of raffles from people but I’ve never won. Probably I’ve won and they’ve never reminded me or told me.”

Tickets for the one-million-dollar raffle can be purchased up to December 20 at five dollars each./