Lottery sales in Southern Vietnam increased 8.1 percent to VND 66.68 trillion ($2.9 billion) in 2016, local media reports.
The results however, did not include sales from Vietlott, an American-style jackpot lottery which has been gaining popularity in Vietnam.
A total of 856 million lottery tickets were sold via the region’s 21 lottery firms. Combined profit between the firms are estimated to be around VND 8.8 trillion.
Earlier this month, Vietnam's traditional lottery operators officially raised their top prizes in an effort to compete with the emerging American-style jackpot.
Effective January 1, the lottery firms increased their top prizes to VND 2 billion from VND 1.5 billion, up 33.3 percent.
The decision to hike up jackpots was reportedly made in October last year by the Southern Lottery Council, after lottery companies complained the American-style mega jackpots have been eating into their business.
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