The Internet has allowed the lottery to move from its traditional brick-and-mortar venues to new digital spaces. Many states now offer online lottery games, and the industry is booming. Lottery players are increasingly using mobile devices to purchase tickets, check their results, and play their favorite games on the go. Online lottery companies have a huge advantage over their brick-and-mortar counterparts: they are able to offer more variety, and are often able to charge lower fees.
Lotteries are regulated by state and provincial governments. They vary in legality, taxation, and number of available games. Some are not legal in all jurisdictions, and some may have age and other restrictions. Many countries also prohibit gambling, including lotteries. The largest lotteries are operated by government-owned companies. The United Kingdom, for example, has a national lottery and several regional games. Australia has state-based games and the Tatts Group-run national Lottery. New Zealand operates an interprovincial lottery, and a private company runs a small number of games on the side (including Keno).
Laos’s communist-controlled lottery system is rigged to avoid large pay-outs, sources in the country say. Officials in the national lottery are manipulating winning numbers to prevent high pay-outs, and even blocking certain numbers that people want to play, they add. Drawings take place three times a week, but winning numbers sometimes vanish from purchased tickets, and the winners are not always picked.
Sources in Laos told RFA’s Lao Service that the rigged lottery is facilitated by private business interests with links to the ruling elite. One such business is a Thai firm that distributes the lotto and knows which numbers people pick, sources say. In one case, a person tried to use the number 509, which is associated with the buffalo, a symbol of wealth and good fortune in Laos, but access was blocked by lottery officials before the drawing. The number was eventually restored just before the drawing.
A spokesman for the state’s lottery committee, Vilasack Phommaluck, told RFA that such allegations are “unfounded.” He said the company and its agencies are double checking the balls before they’re used in the drawings to make sure they’re clean. He added that the ministry is considering reducing the number of drawings to one per week. If this happens, the frequency of shenanigans should decrease.