Lottery games in New Zealand are controlled by an autonomous Crown entity, Lotto New Zealand. Proceeds from Lotto are distributed to charities and community organizations by the Lottery Grants Board. The fund also supports the development of sport and recreation, arts and culture, and education. In addition, the Lottery provides grants for government-mandated social services.
New Zealand Lottery profits are largely tax-free. The Lottery also operates a small casino in Christchurch and runs four games: the Lotto, Powerball, Keno, and Instant Kiwi. The New Zealand Lottery encourages responsible play and urges players to be aware of the risks involved in gambling.
In Laos, gambling is illegal but a few Special Economic Zones have been leased out by the government to boost foreign trade. This makes it legal to gamble in land-based casinos but not online. However, many people still gamble in the country through underground operations run by syndicates, where they use their cell phones to place bets.
While there are no state-owned casinos in the country, a number of private companies offer the most popular games such as roulette, poker and blackjack. Some of these companies are licensed to operate on a national basis. Others are registered at a provincial level. In both cases, players are advised to choose a lottery operator that has a license to operate in their jurisdiction.
The country’s official state lottery enterprise has decreased its issuance from four to two times a week and stopped selling scratch cards, after public complaints that the lottery encouraged people to become addicted to gambling. In addition, officials have sought to regulate illegal lotteries in the country, where foreign-based lotteries are sold illegally as often as four times a day, Finance Minister Bounchom Ubonpaseuth said recently at an extraordinary session of the National Assembly.
Some officials have been accused of rigging the lottery to avoid large pay-outs. For example, the winning number in the Oct. 14 drawing was 509, but the number vanished from tickets purchased throughout the day of the drawing, RFA’s Lao service reported. This is the second time this year that a winning number has disappeared from purchased tickets after the drawing.
Huong and her husband Manh spend most of their days selling lottery tickets. On good days, they sell 250 tickets and make a daily profit of about 11 US-dollars. But on bad days, they can sell fewer than 200 tickets and lose money.
Once they’re done, they return to their home in a remote suburb of Saigon and watch the TV news for updates on the latest lottery results. They plan to buy a house and car, and to travel to South Korea, Japan or Vietnam, she says. The couple also wants to give some of their money to family and friends. But most of all, they want to share the happiness of their newfound wealth with their children.