IradLoto
IradLoto (State Lottery Enterprise; Russian: ГП «ИрадЛото») is the state lottery of the Irad Special Economic Zone (ISEZ). It was founded in February 2012 under the Gaming and Lotteries Act of 2011, holds lottery licence L-001 and reports to the Ministry of Economy. Under the Act the lottery and the pari-mutuel tote of the Irad State Hippodrome are the only legal games of chance in Irad; bookmaking and online gambling are illegal (see Illegal betting in Irad).[1][2] Its office is on Pochtamt Street in Talas.
Games
The main game, Altın Bayge ("golden race"), is a 6/45 draw held on Saturdays at 20:30 and shown live on IradOne; the first draw took place on 7 April 2012. A line costs 10 som. The jackpot starts at 1,000,000 som and must be won once it reaches 6,000,000 som, when an unwon jackpot rolls down to the lower prize tiers. Joguru! is a 5/36 game drawn on Wednesdays and Sundays (5 som a line, jackpot from 100,000 som), and Tört Tuyak ("four hooves") a 4/20 game drawn daily at 21:00 for 3 som, with fixed prizes of 5,000 and 50 som.[3]
Chabysh, named after the long-distance horse race, has been drawn daily at 19:30 since 11 March 2023. The ball machine draws the finishing order of twelve horses owned by the lottery, and the race is then shown as an animation that matches the draw. A 5-som ticket pays 30 som for the winner, 330 for the first two in order and 3,300 for the first three. It is a lottery, not a bet on real horses.[3] IradLoto also sells Tyin scratch cards. The 2026–27 series, Tyin Akyel, costs 20 som; each of its three top prizes is a two-year-old Akyel from the Akyel Syndicate's stud with its pedigree papers and a year's stabling, or 400,000 som in cash.[3]
Sales and draws
Tickets are sold only over the counter, at about 1,100 terminals in Irad Pochtasy post offices, Bereke and Jıldız Market shops, Torgoy outlets and bazaar kiosks; there are no online sales, and sales to anyone under 18 are banned. Draws are held in an IradOne studio in Talas with two gravity ball machines and four ball sets, before a Draw Commission of a Ministry of Economy representative, a notary and a member of the public, who choose the machine and the set by lot and sign the record. Prizes must be claimed within 180 days.[1][3]
Half of the money taken goes to prizes, 20% to the Sport and Youth Fund, 10% to the ISEZ budget, 12% to retailers and 8% to costs. The Fund pays for school sports grounds, fields and stands for the horse games in the districts, kit for children's teams, the Irad League youth cup and the purses of the national horse games, and publishes its grants in an annual report.[1]
Branding
The logo is the word IradLoto in a heavy sans-serif in purple, with the two o's of Loto drawn as gold and crimson lottery balls; the gold ball alone serves as the mark. Kiosk signs are purple with a gold rule.[1]
See also
References
- ^ IradLoto (2026). 'About IradLoto.' loto.iradgov.org. Talas. Retrieved 29 October 2026.
- ^ Eurasian Political Quarterly (2024). 'Patrons and Racketeers: Organized Crime in the Irad Special Economic Zone.' Vol. 31, No. 2, pp. 77–102.
- ^ IradLoto (2026). 'Games.' loto.iradgov.org. Talas. Retrieved 29 October 2026.