"My dream was to win 5 million, so I opened a lottery shop."
In 2023, Nuan Nuan (pseudonym), born in the 90s, took a fancy to the trend of young people who are keen on scratching, opened a sports lottery shop in Hunan, and hoped to live a "retirement life" in advance from now on. However, although young people's enthusiasm for "scratching lottery tickets" is still undiminished, Nuan Nuan's store is still facing a business crisis.
For no other reason, the scratch is out of stock.
01
Out-of-stock becomes the norm:
Young people buy lottery tickets at the card
"Out-of-stock is the norm." Nuan Nuan told China News Finance, "At present, all types of scratch cards are out of stock, and you can order 3-5 copies in 10 days to half a month." ”
On April 24, Nuan Nuan booked 8 scratch tickets. She said that this was the first time that the goods were released in April.
Zhongxin Finance noticed that on social platforms, lottery shops in many provinces and cities reported a shortage of scratch supplies.
Data map: Scratch tickets in a lottery shop. Photo by Zuo Yuqing
At noon on a weekday, in a welfare lottery store in Beijing, the scratch tickets on the counter are nearly sold out, and there are only two or three scratch tickets left with a face value of 50 yuan.
Lottery shop owner Xia Ming (pseudonym) told China News Finance that he got more than a dozen scratch lottery tickets half a month ago, and there are not many left. And when you will get the scratch again next time, and how much you can get, is still unknown.
"Now the 10 yuan and 20 yuan tickets have been scratched, and only 30 yuan and 50 yuan are left." In the lottery tickets displayed by Xia Ming, there are only a few scattered scratch tickets for 30 yuan.
Xia Ming told China News Finance that she first felt the signs of out of stock around the Qingming Festival. "Every time I give very little, this time a dozen copies are quite a lot. Fortunately, there are fewer people scratching lottery tickets these days, and I can only sell a few copies a day in small quantities and sell them on a budget. ”
"I don't have to pick now, I can sell whatever the steward gives, and the supply is as limited as tobacco." She said that many of the people who come to buy scratch tickets are young people. "There are regular customers who often come to scrape, and they will come to buy when they first open, and if they come later, they may be gone."
02
Young people who love scratch music:
It's not uncommon to buy a whole copy
For lottery shop owners, the supply of scratch tickets is related to the revenue of lottery shops. And for young people who are keen to buy scratch tickets, scratch cards mean a kind of decompression happiness.
"If you are in a bad mood, you will be under too much pressure, and you will come to scratch the lottery if you are undecided." Scratch as an instant lottery ticket, because of the instant redemption, simple play, has become a new type of "blind box", deeply loved by young people, in recent years has been in the limelight, and even appeared "scratch bouquet", "online scratch" and other new business.
Data released by the Ministry of Finance showed that in March this year, a total of 55.601 billion yuan of lottery tickets were sold nationwide, an increase of 5.809 billion yuan year-on-year, an increase of 11.7%. Among them,Instant lottery growth is the fastest,Instant lottery sales in March 13.713 billion yuan,An increase of 5.26 billion yuan year-on-year,An increase of 62.2%,Occupy 24.6% of the lottery market share.
A winning scratch ticket. Photo courtesy of the interviewee
"On the last day of the Chinese New Year, I bought a scratch ticket and scratched it out for 100 yuan, and I was very happy during that time, and I felt that I had a good luck." Qiqi (pseudonym), a post-90s generation, told China News Finance that he does not often buy scratch tickets, but the scratch tickets purchased at special times will add a "sense of ceremony".
In addition to the occasional scratch card buyer, there are also some people who indulge in buying the whole book. "When I was at the party before, a friend who took scratch as a hobby bought two scratch tickets to scratch on the spot, and the 2,000 yuan scratch ticket finally came out for 500 yuan." Qiqi said.
"There are not a few young people who buy scratch tickets in their entirety." Xia Ming told Zhongxin Finance that people often bought the whole scratch ticket in the store before. "The largest amount is 1,000 yuan."
03
Behind the scratch out-of-stock:
Is it too hot to sell or is there a limit?
So, with such a hot sale, are scratch tickets really scratched out of stock by young people?
In Nuan Nuan's view, the scratch is out of stock because "the sports lottery center has reached the amount approved by the state this year, and it cannot exceed the standard, so the supply is tight."
However, China Sports Lottery customer service has denied this statement. "I haven't been notified."
In short supply,It is the official saying that sports lottery and fucai are common.
A Chinese sports lottery shop in a shopping mall. Photo by Zuo Yuqing
"Recently, the market demand for instant invoicing has been strong, and the production and supply have not kept up, resulting in a shortage of tickets, and this problem will need to be alleviated for some time." The staff of the Welfare Lottery Center told China News Finance that the Welfare Lottery Center is learning about the relevant situation, and urging and guiding provincial and municipal lottery agencies to further optimize the ticket distribution mechanism to ensure the supply of instant tickets. "It's really not available here in a short period of time."
Under the shortage of scratch tickets, many lottery shop owners feel the pressure to operate. Xia Ming told Zhongxin Finance that the lottery ticket store he operates is divided into 7 points, compared with Beijing's rent and labor costs, the profitability of scratch cards is not optimistic. "Fortunately, I usually sell tobacco and alcohol."
"The steward said that he expects to improve in the second half of the year." Nuan Nuan told Zhongxin Finance that since March, her monthly profit has not been enough to pay rent.
"There is no authority to compete in the lottery, scratch is out of stock, there are few people who buy digital lottery, and every day guards an empty store, guards the white guard, and does not keep the waste of rent." Nuan Nuan was a little confused about this, "The rent is due in mid-May, should I continue to renew the lease?" ”
Source: China News Network WeChat public account
Statement: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author, if there is a source error or infringement of your legitimate rights and interests, you can contact us to deal with it.