TLDR Costa Rica’s Comptroller (CGR) audited the Junta de Protección Social (JPS) and found irregularities in how unsold lottery tickets were managed and destroyed Prizes were linked to lottery fractions previously reported as unsold and destroyed, raising fraud concerns The audit flagged weak physical security at regional offices, missing signatures on destruction reports, and poor electronic scanning of returned tickets The CGR warned these issues posed risks to operational integrity, financial management, and fraud prevention JPS acknowledged the findings and is now developing new risk assessments, IT upgrades, and formal procedures to improve traceability and accountability
Costa Rica’s national lottery oversight body is under pressure to fix internal controls after a government audit uncovered problems with how unsold lottery tickets were handled and destroyed.
The Contraloría General de la República, the country’s top auditing authority, published a report detailing multiple issues at the Junta de Protección Social. The findings centered on the management, return, and destruction of unsold lottery tickets.
One of the key discoveries was that prizes had been distributed for lottery fractions that were previously recorded as unsold and destroyed. Authorities said this did not happen often, but the Comptroller warned it revealed serious gaps in institutional controls.
The audit report, labeled “DFOE-BIS-IAD-00001-2026,” was based on a review of JPS protocols and regional office operations. It found that while physical destruction of tickets inside the vault happened on time, proper documentation was lacking.
Specifically, the report pointed to missing signatures that should have supported the destruction process for both consigned and unsold tickets.
Audit Reveals Weak Security and Poor Record-Keeping
Beyond the documentation gaps, the Comptroller flagged weak physical security conditions at JPS regional offices. These offices handle leftover lottery tickets and are part of the return process.
The audit found poor counting procedures at