Lottery Online
A growing number of people play lottery-style games on the Internet. Some web sites sell tickets for official state or national lotteries, while others offer “instant” scratch-off games that are not officially connected to any lottery. These games are regulated by law, but they are less subject to scrutiny than traditional lotteries. The GTech Corporation, a company based in West Greenwich, Rhode Island, claims to handle 70% of worldwide Internet lottery business. The company’s websites also host sports betting and casino-style games, but they do not require a ticket purchase to play.
Many states have legalized lottery gambling and use the profits to fund public services and social welfare programs. These funds may be distributed through the state’s treasury or other official government agencies. State lotteries are often operated by private companies, but some states have their own government-owned lottery operators.
In some states, lottery profits are spent on education systems. However, lottery revenues are often debated by legislatures and are not always used as intended. In the United States, state governments manage the majority of lotteries. The rest are run by privately owned private organizations or the federal government.
The Oregon Lottery is one of several state lotteries in the U.S. Among the most popular games is Powerball, whose jackpots can reach hundreds of millions of dollars. A Lao immigrant living in Portland, Oregon, recently won the game’s top prize of $1.3 billion dollars. He said he and his wife will share the money and plan to donate some to friends.
Another big winner in the world of lottery games is the New Zealand Lottery, which is run by an independent Crown entity known as Lotto New Zealand. The organization’s prize money is distributed to a variety of community groups, including Sport and Recreation New Zealand, Creative New Zealand, and the New Zealand Film Commission. Lotto New Zealand also runs a number of popular scratch-off games, including Keno and Bullseye.
In Canada, lotteries are regulated at the provincial level. The five regional lottery corporations that run the country’s nationwide lotteries are Atlantic Lottery Corporation (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland), Loto-Quebec (Quebec), Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (Ontario), Western Canada Lottery Corporation (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Alberta, Yukon Territory, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut), and Victoria Lottery Corporation (Victoria). Each is independently governed by its own board of directors. In addition, there is an Interprovincial Lottery Corporation that coordinates the five provinces’ lottery activities. In Australia, state-licensed companies run the nation’s lotteries, and licensed re-sellers sell international lotteries. The company Netlotto Pty Ltd and Jumbo Interactive are two examples of these re-sellers. These companies are supported by the New South Wales government, which provides a small grant to help them develop their businesses.