The emergence of the Internet and e-commerce have opened up new possibilities for lottery play. In many jurisdictions gambling laws have not kept pace with the proliferation of Internet-based games, so lottery websites are thriving, often with minimal regulatory oversight. Some offer free play, while others charge premiums over the price of a traditional lottery ticket. The legality of these services is a concern for regulators.
In Laos, the government has taken steps to improve the quality of lottery drawing results. The number-picking process has been improved and the use of a computerized system to select winners has been introduced. This has helped reduce the number of mistakes and frauds, a source said. In the past, the drawing of numbers was done manually by a group of volunteers. The source also said that the number-picking website of the state-owned lotteries had been hacked and that some lottery information was released online.
PORTLAND, Oregon — A Laotian immigrant who won the Powerball lottery jackpot in early April is sharing his prize money with a friend, giving up half of the $1.3 billion lump sum to his wife and a portion of the remaining amount to another couple. At a news conference, 46-year-old Cheng Saephan wore a bright blue sash emblazoned with the words “Iu-Mien USA.” Iu Mien is a southeast Asian ethnic group that originated in China and settled in the United States after the Vietnam War.
Saephan and his wife, Duanpen, will take half the prize money and give the rest to a friend, Laiza Chao, who chipped in $100 to buy a batch of tickets with them. Chao lives in Milwaukie, a suburb of Portland. She and her husband, who is a mechanic, have two children.
In Canada, prior to 1967 buying a ticket on the Irish Sweepstakes was illegal, but in that year the federal Liberal government introduced a special law (an Omnibus Bill) intended to bring up-to-date a number of obsolete laws. Pierre Trudeau, the Minister of Justice at the time, inserted an amendment concerning lotteries. This allowed a provincial government to operate a lottery.
New Zealand has a national lottery. The profits are distributed by the Lottery Grants Board, an autonomous Crown entity, to a range of charities and community organizations. The lottery has four games, Lotto, Keno, Instant Kiwi, and Bullseye. In addition to charitable and community organizations, Sport and Recreation New Zealand, Creative New Zealand, and the New Zealand Film Commission receive their allocations from the Lottery Grants Board. In 2014, total Lottery grant funding to these organisations was $1.7 billion.