It was the first time when I tried to check the results of Lottery Sambad several years ago. All the participants know about the huge ₹1 crore first prize, but no one pays attention to the ₹1,000 consolation prize that is placed under the previous prize tier. Nevertheless, it took me almost a month of constant checking of the results to finally understand what the consolation prize is. Therefore, in this article I would like to share my personal experience of the participation in Lottery Sambad and try to explain the basics of winning this prize tier.
What Is the Consolation Prize in Lottery Sambad
The consolation prize is the fixed prize worth ₹1,000 that is given to the participants who haven't managed to win the first prize. The same consolation prize worth ₹1,000 is fixed in the Nagaland State Lottery and Sikkim State Lottery and it looks like the separate row that is placed under the row of the first prize on the results page. In my opinion, the main purpose of the consolation prize is to reward the participants who have been unlucky enough to miss the first prize series, but have got the ticket with the same number anyway. Although this prize is relatively low, it becomes the major prize for many regular participants of lottery because of its price that equals to ₹6 and ₹7.
How the Consolation Prize Is Awarded
Now comes the tricky part. As everyone knows, the first prize is awarded to the participant whose ticket number has become the lucky number of the draw, let's imagine that this is the ticket 83B-12345 and the owner receives the first prize worth ₹1 crore. But the tricky thing is how the consolation prize works. The thing is that the Lottery Sambad tickets are grouped into several series (80A, 80B, 80C, 81A, 81B, 82A and so on), there are 200 such series per draw. As a result, if the ticket series 83B-12345 won the first prize, then all the tickets from the other series with the same number (80A-12345, 81C-12345, 82D-12345 and so on) win the consolation prize worth ₹1,000. Such system is designed by the Directorate of Nagaland State Lotteries and Directorate of Sikkim State Lotteries in order to reward all those participants who managed to get the first prize ticket number, but missed the first prize series.
Real Example to Understand the Idea
Here goes the real example that explains this idea much better than words. Let's imagine that the 1 PM Dear Lottery first prize for today is the ticket 83B-27849. The winner of the first prize in this case will be the person who has the ticket 83B-27849 and receives the ₹1 crore first prize. However, in the same draw all the participants of the lottery who have ticket numbers 27849 from other than first prize series (80A-27849, 81C-27849, 82D-27849 and so on) win the consolation prize worth ₹1,000. As a result, about 199 consolation winners receive their prizes each draw, and this is the main reason why the consolation prize is so extensively awarded.
Why Does the Consolation Prize Actually Matter
Many newcomers do not pay any attention to the consolation prize row on the results page, and this is the biggest mistake that I have ever seen. Of course, ₹1,000 seems to be the drop in the bucket compared to the ₹1 crore first prize, but if to look from the mathematical point of view, this is the quite good deal: you spent ₹7 on the ticket and received ₹1,000 as the prize, i.e. received 140 times your money back. From the practical point of view, the consolation prize becomes the most realistic prize for the regular participants who play lottery every day, because the chances to get the same first prize series are extremely low. Many regular participants of the lottery say that consolation prizes become their best wins instead of the first prize wins, because consolation prizes appear much more often.
How to Check Your Consolation Prize Properly
In order to check whether you've won the consolation prize, you need to make just one simple thing: to match the ticket number with the first prize number while ignoring the series letter. If they matched perfectly and your series is not the first prize series, then congratulations, you are receiving ₹1,000. You can check this information on the official results page provided by the Directorate of Nagaland State Lotteries at nagalandlotteries.com, or for Sikkim 6 PM draws at sikkimlotteries.com, or on the mirror page lotterysambad.tv that is used by the majority of regular participants due to its fast downloading. After winning, sign the back of your ticket and submit it for the prize within 30 days.
Conclusion
To conclude, the consolation prize in Lottery Sambad is the prize for all those participants who managed to get the first prize ticket number, but received the ticket in another series and provides the fixed payout of ₹1,000 for each single winning ticket. It is not a big prize, but it remains the most realistic and most extensively awarded prize in the whole list, and that's why I always advise newcomers to pay attention to the consolation row while checking the results. Remember to treat lottery playing as an entertaining activity, never spend more than you can afford and always check your win via official pages.
