Law enforcement agencies have been instructed by the Ministry of Finance to strictly address individuals and businesses engaging in illegal lotteries and online gaming activities. To enforce this directive, police have been instructed to close down services of those engaging in gambling activities as well as prosecute those found engaging in these illegal gambling practices according to relevant laws.
Although gambling is technically illegal in Laos, certain Special Economic Zones within the country allow gambling. Casinos located here accept players from Laos and offer popular casino games like roulette, blackjack and poker; however there are no land-based lotteries as this would lead to addiction among gamblers.
The government is making efforts to curb illegal lotteries, with the Minister of Finance warning of their proliferation as a serious societal problem and draw people towards gambling. He indicated the sale of foreign lottery tickets as illegal and proposed setting up a committee with responsibility for monitoring online gambling websites as well as overseeing regulations to address the problem.
Officials from the state-owned company running Lao’s national lottery have been accused of manipulating its drawings three times weekly. Some sources allege these numbers appear without purchased tickets, or are considered unlucky, and their weight has been called into question according to RFA’s Lao service. Vilasack Phommaluck of the finance ministry serving on the lottery steering committee dismissed such allegations by saying they fall outside his purview and that double checking of lottery balls occurs before each drawing takes place.
An immigrant from Laos undergoing chemotherapy treatment has won the United States Powerball jackpot of $1.3 billion, splitting the prize between himself and wife Duanpen evenly with each taking home $422m after taxes are applied. Saephan lives in Portland, Oregon where he bought over 20 tickets before writing their numbers on pieces of paper which he placed beneath his pillow every night for ease of playing the lottery game.
Illegal lottery activity has seen an upsurge in Laos, with people turning to online lotteries in an effort to win big prizes. Officials have called upon police and law enforcement agencies to take action against this surge of illegal lotteries being sold by private business interests in Vietnam and Thailand – often cat and dog numbers believed to bring good luck as well as promotions offering free tickets or other enticements to attract customers.