Kerala Lottery

Kerala holds a draw every day of the week at 3:00pm IST, each with its own named lottery. Draws are conducted publicly in Thiruvananthapuram, and results are published the same day on the department’s official website and in the Kerala Government Gazette. The current weekly schedule is:

Kerala lotteries are paper raffle tickets, not number-picking games. Each ticket is printed with a unique combination: a series (a letter code) and a number. When you buy a ticket, that combination is fixed; you don’t choose anything. On draw day, winning numbers are drawn for each prize tier, and if the number on your ticket matches, you win that prize.

Because the same numbers are printed across several series (for example, the first prize number appears once in each series), a single draw can produce one first-prize winner per series, along with thousands of smaller winners. Tickets are sold as loose singles or in books, and each daily lottery has its own name, ticket price and prize structure.

Every daily ticket costs ₹50 (about US$0.58), which includes 28% GST. Following a 2025 restructuring, all seven daily lotteries now share the same headline first prize of ₹1 crore (₹10 million, about US$116,000). A representative prize structure looks like this (exact lower-tier amounts vary slightly by lottery and draw):

The seasonal Bumper lotteries are where the really big money is. They carry higher ticket prices and dramatically larger first prizes:

The largest regular prize on offer is the ₹25 crore (about US$2.9 million) first prize of the annual Thiruvonam Bumper. What makes Kerala’s winners notable isn’t just the amounts but who tends to win: because tickets are cheap and sold everywhere, life-changing prizes regularly go to ordinary working people.

Widely reported examples include a house painter from Aymanam who won a ₹12 crore Bumper prize (reported by the Times of India in early 2022), and migrant workers, auto-rickshaw drivers and small traders who have taken home multi-crore Bumper jackpots in recent years. These human-interest stories are a big part of why the Kerala Lottery is so popular across the state.

The Kerala State Lotteries were established in 1967, the brainchild of the state’s then Finance Minister, P. K. Kunju. After private lotteries were banned, the government launched its own to raise revenue without new taxes and to create employment for ticket agents and sellers. It was the first initiative of its kind in India and became a model later copied by other states.

Today the department employs hundreds of staff across a headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram and district offices statewide, and supports a large network of licensed agents and vendors. Revenue and GST from ticket sales help fund state welfare schemes (most notably the Karunya Benevolent Fund), which provides financial assistance to lower-income residents facing serious illnesses such as cancer, kidney and heart disease.

Kerala lottery tickets are sold as physical paper tickets only, through a large network of licensed agents and street vendors across Kerala at kiosks, shops and stalls, and by the familiar sellers who carry sheets of tickets. A daily ticket costs ₹50.

A word of caution: the Kerala government sells tickets in physical form within Kerala and does not run an official online sales channel. Numerous websites and apps claim to sell “Kerala lottery” tickets online. These are not official government sales, and buyers should be wary of them. The only guaranteed-genuine ticket is a printed one bought from an authorised agent.

How you claim depends on the prize amount:

• Up to ₹1 lakh: claim from authorised lottery agents or any District Lottery Office by surrendering the original winning ticket with a valid photo ID.
• Above ₹1 lakh: claim from the Directorate of State Lotteries in Thiruvananthapuram, submitting the original ticket, ID proof, photographs and a claim form (usually routed through a bank). The prize is paid by bank transfer or cheque after deductions.

Winners must verify their number against the official Gazette result and surrender the ticket within 30 days of the draw date. Sign the back of the ticket and keep it safe and undamaged.

Taxes on winnings

Unlike Australia or the UK, Kerala lottery winnings are taxable in India, and the deductions are significant. Any prize above ₹10,000 is subject to tax deducted at source (TDS) at a flat 30% under the Income Tax Act, plus a 4% health and education cess (an effective 31.2%), with an additional surcharge on very large prizes. No exemptions or deductions apply to this tax.

On top of tax, the selling agent typically receives a commission (around 10%) that is deducted from large prizes. In practice, a headline ₹1 crore first prize translates to a net payout closer to ₹63 lakh once agent commission and taxes are taken out. Winners should factor this in and consult a tax professional for large prizes.

Can you stay anonymous?

Effectively, no. Kerala does not offer lottery winners anonymity. Winning numbers are published publicly in the Government Gazette and online, and claiming a prize requires presenting the physical ticket along with photo identification and, for larger prizes, photographs and bank details. Big winners are also routinely identified and interviewed by local media.

While a winner isn’t forced to give press interviews, there is no legal mechanism to claim a Kerala prize while keeping your identity confidential from the authorities. Players hoping to win quietly should be aware that the process is public by design.