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New 'Lucky Receipt' Lottery Aims to Defeat Portugal's Tax Cheats

Cars will be given away as prizes in a new "lucky receipt" lottery aimed at stopping tax fraud in Portugal.
Image: A woman holds store receipts doubling as lottery tickets in Slovakia
A woman holds store receipts doubling as lottery tickets in Bratislava, Slovakia, on Nov. 29, 2013. The scheme -- a bid to fight tax evasion by vendors -- has proved to be both a hit and a cash cow for the government. A similar lottery is now being launched in Portugal.Samuel Kubani / AFP - Getty Images, file

It’s free to enter and prizes include 60 top-of-the-range cars but Portugal’s government hopes to be the real winner of a new lottery which will use receipts issued by businesses as entry tickets.

Aiming to enlist the help of citizens to force firms to pay taxes, authorities in the Iberian nation will offer prizes to consumers who ask businesses for receipts that include an official tax number, according to the Jornal de Noticias newspaper.

Officials predict the "lucky receipt" lottery will result in the number of sales transactions given to tax authorities rising by 50 percent this year.

The lottery is similar to ones run in Puerto Rico, Slovakia and Brazil. It is part of Portugal's effort to meet the $106 million international bailout agreement set in 2011.

Authorities did not specify the make or model of the cars that will be offered as prizes.

Image: A woman holds store receipts doubling as lottery tickets in Slovakia
A woman holds store receipts doubling as lottery tickets in Bratislava, Slovakia, on Nov. 29, 2013. The scheme -- a bid to fight tax evasion by vendors -- has proved to be both a hit and a cash cow for the government. A similar lottery is now being launched in Portugal.Samuel Kubani / AFP - Getty Images, file