Lottery online
A man from Laos who purchased a Powerball ticket in Oregon has won the top prize of $1.3 billion. Cheng Saephan, who works as a chef at a restaurant in Portland, will split the sum with his wife, Duanpen, and a friend who chipped in $100 to buy a batch of tickets. He will take a lump sum of about $422 million after taxes. The winner will have a year to claim the jackpot. He cannot remain anonymous because of state law, which requires winners to come forward publicly to collect their prizes.
The lottery is a popular form of gambling in many countries around the world. It is also an important source of revenue for some states and local governments. The US has several national and state lotteries, including the Powerball and Megamillions, while some countries have their own version of a national lottery. In addition, there are private lotteries that sell tickets in conjunction with state lotteries.
In the early 20th century, the United States Congress passed a law that allowed state lotteries to be established. It also permitted the sale of scratch-off tickets. These new types of lottery games were designed to increase the amount of money that was awarded as prizes. In addition, these tickets were a good alternative to more expensive forms of gambling, such as poker and blackjack.
In Laos, the government recently sent a directive to state lottery supervisors asking them to work with police and other agencies to improve transparency in the state lottery system. The directive calls for drawing times to be reduced from two to one a week and for the handling of winnings to be improved. It also bans informal football lotteries and lottery chances bought via short messaging services. This is part of a larger effort to crack down on illegal lottery activities in the country. Reported by Ounkeo Souksavanh and Bounchanh Mouangkham for RFA’s Lao Service. Editing by Richard Finney.