Mifal HaPayis
(The Israeli National Lottery)
An organization at the head of a national industry of gambling in Israel.
Its official name is Mifal HaPayis, and in spoken Hebrew, the name is shortened, and the second word is mainly used: Payis ("buying Payis," "I won the Payis," etc.).
The word Payis is archaic, and it is mentioned in Jewish literature from two thousand years ago. Its original meaning: a lottery. Since it has been used for gambling in Israel, its meaning has been broadened, and in spoken Hebrew, it has associations with good luck and an unexpected win of something positive.
Behind the charming word with a literary scent stands an organization that sells dreams to people, turns over billions of shekels a year, and operates under government auspices.
It has an exclusive franchise to run mass betting options of the most basic and unsophisticated kind: guessing numbers, and winning a cash prize—the more numbers you guess, the higher the prize.
The guess itself costs the gambler money, and the chance of winning a grand prize approaches zero. But gamblers don't think logically, and their imagination drives them with an uncontrollable urge to try and guess. To try and win against all odds. They believe they can get money without working.
That's how it is all over the world, and also here, in Israel.
Israeli law prohibits organized gambling of any kind.
The prohibition has existed since the state's early years, when Israeli society began to organize and create a legal and ethical infrastructure for itself. The lawmakers assumed that the urge "to try one's luck" is so human and common that it cannot be prevented from erupting, and it is better to control and supervise the phenomenon.
To prevent private organizations like casinos, they established a "non-profit company" and granted it a monopoly on lotteries and gambling. Through it, the state can channel the gamblers' money for the benefit of the entire public—part of the money goes to the prize winners, and all the rest is distributed for social causes.
Mifal HaPayis is not alone.
It has a little brother called the "Toto", also a state-sponsored financial organization. The Toto offers an informed gamble, based on knowledge in the field of sports. The Toto is the younger, smarter brother, but its wealth and scope of activity do not come close to that of the big brother in the gambling industry.
The logo of Mifal HaPayis
Mifal HaPayis offers several betting options, and the most well-known and common are:
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Lotto – guessing 7 numbers out of 37, to win the grand prize, and a small prize for those who guess fewer numbers. The grand prize increases from one lottery to the next and can reach sums of up to 70 million shekels (as of 2023).
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Payis Subscription – each subscriber chooses a six-digit number, which will be their permanent number. In a weekly draw, a random number is chosen by lot, and the closer the guesser's number is to it, the higher their prize.
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Daily Draw Bets – for especially heavy gamblers who are addicted to guessing, such as: Chance, Hish-Gad, and more.
The betting offered by HaPayis is part of the hidden and open lives of millions of Israelis, those who hope to win money without effort.
The betting is done openly, on the streets and in markets, through agents at sales stations called: "Payis booths"—uniquely designed kiosks, accessible and available to passersby, shoppers, and travelers. There isn't an Israeli who hasn't come across a Payis booth and seen the daily gamblers gathering around it—on the street or in the mall.
The booths entice those who don't mind betting and guessing openly. And if someone asks and shows interest—they will say dismissively that "it's just a game," they will act as if they are enjoying "the game" and will say that "what's the worst that can happen? At most, fifty shekels are gone. You have to help luck come."
A Payis booth on a street
A Payis booth in a mall
Sales booths are one of the marketing channels for legal state-sponsored gambling.
In addition to them, Mifal HaPayis also grants marketing franchises to small and large stores of various types, the most prominent of which are: cafeterias and "Pitzutziyot"—convenience stores for cigarettes, newspapers, drinks, and fast food.
A hidden channel of gamblers exists through a special track for subscribers.
These are those who don't want to bother and come to a station, or who are ashamed to be seen in public as gamblers and prefer anonymity. They have a quiet gambling track, through a bank account, with standing orders and credit cards. They have a subscription card and are members of a club that distributes various benefits to its members in the fields of entertainment and consumption.
According to data published in 2021, over 600,000 subscribers were registered in the standing order track. And the obvious conclusion: over 10 percent of Israelis aged 24 and over place some hope in the possibility of winning the Payis. If you add the gamblers who buy directly at the booths, the number is much higher.
Gambling and non-gambling Israelis are exposed to Mifal HaPayis on a daily basis.
They see the Payis booths everywhere and are exposed to soliciting advertisements on a daily basis—in ads and signs, in videos and commercials on radio and television and on all internet channels. The ads entice gamblers to come and gamble in one of the variety of gambles that can win you the Payis.
Among the different gambling tracks—the Lotto draw is the most publicized. The most tempting. The one that makes you fantasize that you have a chance to win the biggest money you could ever imagine, and it often gets into the details of the fantasy: what you would do with the money and how you would fulfill your most hidden dreams.
Stories of winners in one clip (in Hebrew) "The Fruit Stain"
Mifal HaPayis is a public body that turns over many billions of huge shekels—the gamblers' money. Liquid money looking for a place to flow.
What do they do with all that money?
After they spend enormous sums on advertising and public relations, and after they pay huge sums on salaries and payments for all that is called: "operating expenses"... after all that, a large surplus remains in the fund. The surplus, many billions, goes to the benefit of Israeli society.
HaPayis invests billions of shekels in local government. With this money, they establish community centers and educational institutions, distribute prizes in the fields of education, culture, and art, assist social initiatives, and support a wide range of public benefit projects.
All the activity is made known to Israelis through advertisements and public relations articles.
So that all Israeli gamblers know that in the end, every gambler wins the Payis. A consolation prize, true, that isn't felt in the bank account like the expense for the gamble, but it helps quiet the conscience—both of the gamblers and of Mifal HaPayis.
And so, after they managed to tempt millions of people to believe that there is money without work, the government representatives take the money of the poor who gambled their last shekel, and they establish educational institutions for them. And in the educational institutions they established, they teach that you shouldn't rely on luck and that "by the sweat of your brow you will eat your food."
Knowledge Bites on Mifal HaPayis:
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Mifal HaPayis invests huge sums in advertising and is considered one of the largest advertisers in the advertising industry. Some of its campaigns have yielded slogans for the spoken Hebrew language that are etched in the public consciousness. The most prominent of these: "Tzarich Payis BaChaim" (You need a Payis in life)—a well-known slogan that has entered everyday language and expresses the idea of needing "luck" or a "windfall" to succeed sometimes.
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Erela from Mifal HaPayis is a real person from recent decades, very well known to the Israeli public. She is the representative of Mifal HaPayis who surprises a subscriber on the subscription track and announces that they have won the Payis. The dialogue between the two (the good news and the surprised cry of the winner) is recorded and heard in radio commercials.
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The Sapir Prize is awarded once a year for a book in the field of fiction. The most prestigious prize in the field of literature in Israel, it is one of the cultural initiatives of Mifal HaPayis.
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Other initiatives: The "Landau Prize," which is awarded annually in the fields of art, research, and science in Israel. "Eshkolot Payis"—community centers for the study of science, technology, and art for the entire community.
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