Punters queuing to buy Toto tickets for this year's $10 Million Hong Bao Draw at a popular Singapore Pools outlet in Yishun Avenue 5 yesterday. -- ST PHOTO: MUGILAN RAJASEGERAN
BY THE end of tonight, one or a few lucky punters will walk away with at least $10 million, the prize at stake in this year's Toto Hong Bao Draw.
As of last night, that was the prize amount, but it may grow if more people place bets today, said Singapore Pools.
The biggest Toto jackpot to date was $12,795,506. It was split among nine winners on Feb 25, 2002.
The biggest prize won by a single punter was $6.5 million on May 24, 2007.
Singapore Pools conducts about 250 draws annually at its head office in Selegie Road. Of these, 104 are for Toto and the rest, for 4-D and The Singapore Sweep.
Toto has been played in Singapore since 1968. This is what happens before and during a draw:
Six officers, including an external auditor, oversee every draw.
All draw equipment are sealed and locked, and the key and access card to the draw room are held separately by two officers.
First, a computer program is run to randomly select the machine that will pick the numbers and a back-up one, as well as the respective sets of balls for these machines. Only one machine is used for each draw, but the back-up is always on standby in case of breakdowns.
Next, the draw team retrieves the selected equipment from the sealed and locked room. Draw balls are individually weighed to ensure that they all stand an equal chance of being drawn.
The balls are then loaded into the draw machine and its back-up, in sequence, in the draw hall before members of the public.
At the draw time - for tonight's draw, it is 9.30pm - a member of the public is invited to press the button to start the proceedings.
The winning numbers are announced as the balls are drawn.
After the draw is done, all equipment are checked, then locked and resealed away in the room until the next draw.
