Lottery is a game in which numbers are drawn to win a prize. These games may be held by state, provincial, territorial or federal governments and can be played in person, over the telephone, via the Internet or at retail outlets. In some countries, lottery profits are used for public services, such as education and health care. In others, they are used for economic development or infrastructure projects. In some cases, the funds from a lottery are ring-fenced so that they cannot be used to fund private interests or political parties.

The New Zealand national lottery is operated by Lotto New Zealand, an autonomous Crown entity that distributes the proceeds from the lottery to community and sporting organizations. Its games include Lotto, Powerball and Strike, keno and Instant Kiwi scratch card games. In addition, the lottery has a variety of other products such as sports events and travel prizes. The total income from the lottery in 2015 was $1.8 billion.

Canada has four nationwide lotteries, including Lotto 6/49, Lotto Max (which replaced Lotto Super 7 in September 2009), Daily Grand and Millionaire Life. These are administered by the Interprovincial Lottery Corporation, a consortium of the five regional lottery commissions owned by the provinces and territories: Atlantic Lottery Corporation (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador), Loto-Quebec (Quebec), Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (Ontario), and Western Canada Lottery Corporation (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Yukon Territory, Northwest Territories, Nunavut). In addition to these, there are various local lotteries across the country.

Laos (; / , IPA: láo, pronounced “lao-say”) is a landlocked nation in Southeast Asia. It borders China in the north, Vietnam and Cambodia in the east, and Thailand in the south. Its capital city is Vientiane. It is a socialist-democratic republic and a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Many people who sell lottery tickets do so illegally because they need the money to pay their debts and cover basic needs. One vendor in Hanoi named Dai Trang said her sales have dropped by about a third since the pandemic began, and that she has trouble convincing customers to buy tickets.

With online gambling laws generally prohibitive, the number of sites offering lottery-style games has risen. Some of these sites offer a fee to purchase a ticket, while others charge a premium on base lottery prices. The emergence of these sites has caused some concern among regulators, especially in the United States, where many players have access to mobile devices that can play these games.