An alternative to buying lottery/4D or going Genting via BSN Bank Simpanan Nasional SSP Sijil Simpanan Tetap

How BSN (Bank Simpanan Nasional) SSP (Sijil Simpanan Premium) works is you buy a certificate with a serial number. This serial number is used to be ballot in monthly lucky draws. 1st price is a million ringgit and 2nd price is some luxury vehicle. There will be instances where there will be special draws, like during festival (Hari Raya). These certificates are issued by BSN (Bank Simpanan Nasional).

This scheme has been around for probably 3 decades already (started in the 70s). I recalled being a small boy when my mom took me to buy the SSP certificate as a form of savings using my Ang Pow money.

The downside of it is that these certificates pay very low interest rate. The rest of the interest are set aside for the prizes.

Some people ask why this sort of lottery like investment is permitted considering the main religion here (Malaysia) is Islam. I did some research and found that basically, why this is legal and morally ok in the religion is because the capital/savings is protected. Whereas in gambling, the capital/money is risked. This basically means that as long as capital put in is protected and guaranteed, then holding a lottery/lucky draw kind of contest is perfectly legal in law and religion.

Years ago, the SSPN certificate had to be purchased over the counter. It was a big hassle and more of showing off the physical SSPN certificates. With improvement of times, the SSPN certificate can now be purchased online via BSN eBanking. There is no more issuance of physical SSPN certificates. This makes it very convenient to normal people like us.

Back the reality, the odds of winning is quite low as the number digits and circulation of the certificates is quite big. However I have to argue that DaMaCai lottery odds are also same, instead of throwing money away, might as well risk it in a capital protected lucky draw. Another argument is the payout is only 1 million while DaMaCai lottery can go up to 10 million depending on the pot size. My answer to this is there's no difference between 1 million and 10 million (to me). There's no much more 10 million can do over 1 million unless you're planning to buy a Gulfstream jet or Mini Yacht.

How I use SSPN is I put whatever spare change there is in my accounts into SSPN. Eg..Say Bank X bank balance is RM 1030. I take out RM30 and put into BSN SSPN, itf the balance is RM 6050, I take RM 50 and put it into SSPN. It's kind of like a force savings kind of method. It requires some discipline at first but I made it into a habit to do it once a week so it's quite seamless and effortless now.

I've actually yet to win any prices from this SSP but I look at it like a forced savings to put aside money for emergency use. From what I see based on the draw results, there's no difference for old time SSPN and new time SSPN, all have equal chances of winning. I've seen very new numbers (subscribed recently) win the top prizes.

Results of BSN SSP are broadcasted live over their Facebook page . Winners will also be informed later via email for those not following the Facebook page.

So far I've yet to win anything but I'm treating this as account as a savings plan. Personally it's way better than throwing money away at Sports Toto and Magnum lottery.