The New Zealand Lottery is operated by the Government through an autonomous Crown entity, Lotto New Zealand. Profits are distributed by the Lottery Grants Board to a number of community and sporting organizations, including Sport and Recreation New Zealand, Creative New Zealand and the New Zealand Film Commission. In addition, some of the profits are allocated to public schools. Lottery prizes are tax free in New Zealand.
The National Lottery in Spain, operated by the state-owned lottery operator Camelot Group, is one of the world’s largest lotteries. Its prize pool is more than EUR2.4 billion each year. Lottery tickets are available at local shops and online. The top prize/jackpot is EUR4 million. The National Lottery is regulated by the Gambling Commission.
Laos is a small country in Southeast Asia, bordered by China to the northeast and Vietnam to the west. It has a population of around 7 million and is one of the poorest countries in the region. Although gambling is illegal in the country, there are some Special Economic Zones where land-based casinos operate and offer popular games like poker and roulette. In the case of online casinos, players from Laos are accepted in numerous offshore sites without the risk of getting caught.
Until recently, the most common source of income for people in the country was selling lottery tickets. But the government has now decided to take steps to regulate the sector. In August, the office of Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith sent a directive to the ministry that oversees the legal state lottery to reduce the number of weekly drawings and improve the transparency of winnings. In addition, informal football lotteries and lottery chances purchased by text messaging service will be banned.
For many Vietnamese, especially those in the rural areas, the only way to make money is by selling lottery tickets. This is because the social security systems in the country aren’t yet capable of handling the large numbers of poor citizens. For Huong, a single mother in Saigon, lottery selling is her only option. On good days, she can sell up to 250 tickets, earning her a daily profit of about USD11 or US-Cents. On bad days, she sells fewer tickets and earns less. But she still prefers this job to the socially detested act of begging. Huong has another reason to stay with her job: she’s pregnant. The money she makes helps her support the baby on the way.