"Fapiao" (發票) is a Chinese term that appeared in the mid-to-late Qing Dynasty of China as proof of payment issued by the merchants.

The introduction of this lottery on January 1, 1951, encouraged locals to obtain receipts with standardized formats for every purchase made with businesses with a monthly turnover of NT$200,000 (US$6,200) and above.

[4] In keeping with Taiwan's "convenience store culture", some major convenience store chains will redeem receipts for the smallest (NT$200) prize by allowing customers to buy that amount of products with a winning receipt; larger prizes must be redeemed at a government tax ministry office.

[7] In conjunction with the 60th anniversary of the invoice lottery, the Finance Ministry announced a 33% increase in the total prize value to NT$7 billion (US$20 million) in 2011.

[4] The Ministry started an e-invoice initiative in 2006 with the intention of facilitating e-commerce and reducing the number of receipts that need to be physically printed (currently about 11.5 billion every year).