Could Your Lunch Receipt Be Worth $1,000?

A new lottery game is being trialled in Puerto Rico.

Every time someone buys something in a shop, their receipt now contains a number.

And every week those receipts could win prizes ranging from $100 to $1,000. With a monthly prize of a car being planned too.

The government wants prize-hungry consumers to demand receipts, discouraging businesses from dodging the 7 percent sales tax by making unrecorded cash sales.

The government says it is spending about $16 million on the effort, including equipment to print receipts with lottery numbers. But it is seeking a big payoff: The Treasury Department hopes to collect $400 million in additional sales tax revenue in two years as a result of the program.

It’s an intriguing idea – make taxes fun?

But in a country where the Government reckon they are only collecting 52% of the taxes that are owed, it’s not surprising some innovative ideas are being tested out.