Laos lottery tickets have become an integral part of life. Every week, hundreds of thousands of people buy lottery tickets for national lotteries with prizes reaching US$5 million and state-run lotteries with payouts as high as this sum – with lucky winners sometimes becoming fortunes overnight thanks to prize structures designed to encourage participation: as more tickets are purchased the more prize wins multiplied exponentially – making lottery an extremely popular form of gambling among Laos residents as well as being an invaluable source of income for their country.
Lotteries draw large audiences nationwide. Fans eagerly watch live draws broadcast by television and Facebook, checking their entries against official results in hopes of landing big prizes – each win can mean thousands in debt relief and food on the table; yet losing tickets or disappointment that their dream number wasn’t chosen may reduce excitement considerably.
As reported by the Oregon Lottery, Cheng Saephan from Portland won a $1.3 billion Powerball jackpot with numbers 5-9-5-9 and claimed his prize with Duanpen and Laiza Chao from his Iu Mien ethnic group who immigrated from Thailand into America during the 1960s, sharing the prize equally among themselves – taking home an estimated lump sum after taxes of $422 Million each.
Some believe lottery officials are gaming the system. Drawings for Lao’s national lottery, held three times weekly, often produce numbers which suddenly vanish from purchased tickets or are considered unlucky and unlikely to be selected – such as on October 14 when number 9 appeared as 5 throughout its sale but then mysteriously vanished an hour before winning list announcement was scheduled, according to sources in Vientiane reporting to RFA’s Lao Service.
Thongloun Sisoulith’s office issued a directive on Aug. 17 asking the Ministry of Finance and police to collaborate in overseeing lottery games more transparently. Officials will restrict lotteries to two per week while eliminating scratch lotteries requiring buyers to peel away a plastic coating in order to view numbers; and will also close informal football and lottery chances sold via short messaging services.
Charles Zuckerman will discuss the history and meaning of lotteries in Laos through a historical lens and what their present day manifestation means to Laotians on the ground. He will review their political, economic and moral history since 1975 as government efforts rationalized lotteries as an economic activity consistent with socialist objectives; furthermore he will examine what playing the lottery, choosing numbers and winning meant for people during his fieldwork from 2013-2016 in Luang Prabang.