Thiruvananthapuram: The draw of lots of the Onam bumper lottery, carrying the highest prize money of Rs 25 crore ever offered in the history of the state lotteries, will be held on Sunday.

A record 66.40 lakh tickets were sold till Saturday evening, as the state awaits the lucky winners, who will be decided by 2 pm on Sunday. The State Lotteries Department has printed 67.50 lakh tickets.

Last year, 54 lakh Onam bumper tickets were sold when the first prize money offered was Rs 12 crore.

This time over, the bumper prize winner can take home Rs 15.75 crore after deducting 10% as agency commission and 30% in taxes.

The second prize winner will get Rs 5 crore.

Ten third prize winners will get Rs 1 crore each. The ticket price is Rs 500.

The Pooja bumper lottery, which offers a first prize of Rs 10 crore, will be released for sale tomorrow.

The MRP of a single ticket is Rs 250.

What needs to be done upon hitting the jackpot?

People in groups often pool their money together to buy bumper tickets that are prized higher than the normal ones.

The participants may be friends or belong to the same family. So, what to do if a ticket purchased by a group wins the prize?

The Lottery Department says the prize money can be claimed by the person who writes and signs his/her name on the backside of the lottery ticket.

If more than one person has pooled in money to purchase the ticket, then all of them can write their names and sign on the backside of the ticket.

Upon winning the prize, an application should be forwarded to the Lottery Director claiming the prize money.

Then the original ticket can be encashed by submitting the same directly or through a bank.

It should be mentioned in the application how the group wants to receive the prize money, whether the encashed amount should be deposited in an individual’s account, or an equal fixed amount needed to be credited against the accounts of all participants in the group.

The department will allot the prize money accordingly.

Some groups receive the amount through a single account of a participant and then split the prize money, and others prefer crediting the amount to a joint account.

The special software of the Lottery Department facilities all these as per the request in the application.