Big "Tico Bingo" Draw This Sunday
Sunday is Father's Day in Costa Rica and the Benemérita Cruz Roja Costarricense (Costa Rican Red Cross) will be holding it "big" prize draw this Sunday in honour of all fathers. The total prize purse will be ¢500 million colones (us$975.000) and tickets cost only ¢1.000 colones (us$1.95).

There will be 20 prices of ¢10 million colones, 20 prizes of ¢5 million colones and 40 prices of ¢1 million colones. A number of small prized from ¢500.000 to ¢50.000 colones will also be handed out to ticket holders.

The prize draw will be at 4:00pm and will be carried live on national television. Monday a complete list of winning tickets numbers will be published in all national print newspapers.

The "Tico Bingo" is available everywhere in the country and not only at Red Cross stations. In downtown San José the familiar Red Cross vehicles will be parked at the edge of the boulevard (the pedestrian walkway of Avenida Central) with Red Cross workers selling tickets.

A row between the Red Cross and the Municipality of San José (which operates its own lottery) does not allow Red Cross vehicles on the boulevard as it had been for many years, forcing the Red Cross vehicles to stay on the public roads.

The Tico Bingo was first introduced in 1987 and the revenue from the lottery helps the institution to cover up to 70% of its operational costs. So, in additional to saving lives, buying a Tico Bingo can alos make you a millionaire (if only in colones).