History

• 1955

  Establishment of Arogyashala Lottery under Finance Act no.4 of 1955

  In 1954, the Minister of Health was the E.A. Mr. Nugawela.

  by him,named the Hospital Lottery.

  As a result of that effort, the Hospital Lottery was introduced by the Hospital Lottery Act No. 4 of 1955.

  

• 1963

  Establishment of NLB under Finance Act no.11 of 1963

  

• 1964

  First draw of the Jathika Lottery at Torrington Square (20/02/1964)

  The beginning of a new journey the first lottery of the new entity dedicated to the lottery was the National Lottery.

  The inaugural draw was held on February 20, 1964 at Independence Square, Colombo. The National Lottery became popular among the people.

   

  

• 1965

  In the 46th season of 1965, the first prize was a Benz car, which caused people  like to the National Lottery.

  The value of the Benz car is one hundred thousand rupees.

• 1967

  As the activities of the National Lotteries Board expanded, the need arose to open branch offices throughout the country.

  Accordingly, the first branch office was opened in 1967 in Ratnapura.

  Subsequently branch offices were established in almost all districts including Jaffna, Matara, Trincomalee, Hambantota and Kandy.

  Lottery tickets were delivered by train from the head office to the branch offices.

  Sales agents come to the branch office and collect lottery tickets.

  In some cases, the branch manager in charge of the branch office and the assistant branch manager took the lottery tickets to the dealers in the respective areas.

   

• 1969

  People were eager to try their luck in the lottery. Emerged the need  a new lottery.In fulfillment of this, in 1969 a new lottery called National Resource was launched in the market.

  

• 1970

  Converted Jathika Sampatha lottery to Mahajana Sampatha lottery (28/07/1970).

  

• 1975

  Shifted to new Building at No.111/1, Sir Chiththampalam A Gardiner Mawatha

• 1977

  Increased the price of Jathika Lottery from 5o cts. To Rs.1/- .

• 1987

  Introduction of Supiri Jathika lottery (11/04/1987).

  

• 1988

  Increased the price of Mahajana Sampatha from Rs.1/- to Rs.8/-

  • Introduction of Lotto lottery (Sep 1988)
  • First draw of the Mahajana Sampatha over the Rupavahini (10/05/1988)

• 1989

  Increased the prize of Mahajana Sampatha from Rs.8/- to Rs:10/- .

• 1992

  Introduction of Airport Super Draw Lottery.

  

• 1994

  Introduction of Vasana Sampatha lottery

  

• 1995

  Introduction of Govisetha lottery.

  

• 1996

  Introduction of Samurdhi lottery.

  

• 1997

  Introduction of Shrama Vasana lottery Amalgamation of the Sevana lottery with NLB.

• 1999

  Introduction of Supiri Vasana lottery.

  

• 2000

  Introduction of Jayaviru lottery .

  

• 2004

  Introduced Sarana lottery to generate financial assistance for Tsunami Victims.

  • Established Welfare & Thrift funds to provide benefits to employees.
  

• 2005

  Mahajana Sampatha was awarded most preferred brand for 2005 under banking, financial services category conducted by SLIM.

• 2006

  Introduced the Suwasetha lottery after abolishing the Lotto lottery.

  • Offered the highest ever Super Prize from the Mahajana Sampatha lottery (Rs.61.3mn).
  

• 2007

  Introduced New Airport lottery

  • The price of the Airport Super Draw lottery was increased from US $25 to US$ 50.

• 2010

  Introduced the Jathika Sampatha Lottery in place of Shrama Vasana and Suwasetha Lotteries.

  • Mahajana Sampatha lottery was introduced to Sundays too.
  

• 2011

  Passed the Rs.10 billion marks in sales for the year (1st time in the history)

  • Supiri vasana Sampatha Lottery was introduced to Wednesdays in place of Jayaviru lottery which was abolished.
  • New Airport lottery was conducted. Due to poor performance this lottery was abolished.
  • Offered five super prizes over Rs.10 mn within a 3 week period which included 4 back to back super prizes in a row.

• 2012

  Introduced a new lottery named Sampath Rekha.

  • Govisetha Lottery was introduced to Thursdays too.
  • Vasana Sampatha lottery was introduced to Mondays too.
  

• 2013

  Super Prize of Govisetha lottery was increased fromRs.10 Mn to Rs.40 Mn.

  • Super Prize of Sampath Rekha lottery was increased from Rs.5 Mn to Rs.io Mn.
  • Introduced Mega 50 lottery on behalf of 50th Anniversary of NLB.
  

• 2014

  Introduced a new lottery named Power Lotto.

• 2015

  Implemented "Divisarana" Insurance scheme for lottery sellers (June 2015)

  • Introduced a new lottery named Neerogha (25.07.2015)
  • 31st Airport Superdraw draw was held (31.08.2015)
  • Commenced drawing three passive lottery draws in a single day(from 01.09.2015)
  • Held Dealer convention award ceremony for the 1st time named "Mahathma" (December 2015)

• 2019

  • Introduced new lottery named Daru Diri Sampatha.
  • The first lottery drawn on 30th of January 2020.
  • The fund was officially launched on World Children's Day on 1st October 2019.
  • This lottery generates funds for Save the children - National trust fund.