Lottery Online
In countries where gambling laws have not kept up with the rapid expansion of Internet technology, lottery-style games based on numbers are increasingly popular, especially instant scratch cards and keno. The GTech Corporation of Rhode Island, for example, administers 70% of the worldwide online and instant lottery business, reports say. The online version of a traditional lottery usually combines elements of traditional gaming, such as a base price plus premiums (such as the chance to win an expensive prize) to create the illusion that the user is playing a legitimate game.
Despite their widespread popularity, lottery-style games are illegal in some jurisdictions. Some governments prohibit them entirely, while others only regulate their sale and distribution. The government of New Zealand, for example, has an independent crown entity that oversees its four national lotteries. Proceeds from these are used for sport, arts and community projects.
Laos has one legal state lottery, supervised by the Ministry of Finance. But private business interests control the majority of the country’s lottery system, which critics say lacks transparency and is rigged to avoid large pay-outs. Business interests involved in the lotteries include members of the ruling elite, RFA’s sources in Laos say. Moreover, the private businesses pay the government annual fees for the licenses they hold to run the lottery system but receive no public scrutiny.
Lottery officials in the communist nation of Laos are rigging the system to avoid large payouts, local sources tell RFA’s Lao Service. The winning numbers in the state lottery drawings often vanish from purchased tickets or change before the drawing is made. In a recent case, the number 509 appeared only as a 5, and then changed to 134 just 10 minutes before the drawing was held.
The problem is even worse in the country’s capital, Hanoi. Thousands of Vietnamese families have no other way to support themselves besides selling lottery tickets, which are a popular form of entertainment among the poorer population. A single mother named Huong, for example, sells tickets to earn a living and provide for her young son. On a good day she can make about 230 000 VN-Dong, enough to cover her daily expenses and help her family survive. On bad days she sells fewer than 180 tickets, which makes only a small profit. She and her husband start their day at five a.m., with a quick breakfast of rice and vegetable soup, before striking out onto Saigon’s busy streets for their 16-hour shifts.