Buying lottery tickets online is now a popular activity worldwide. It is easy to do and many sites offer free games in addition to paying real money prizes. Some of these sites also charge premiums on the base lottery price. Despite this, there are some sites that are legitimate and operate according to the laws of their jurisdiction. In order to avoid being ripped off, players should be careful about which sites they choose to play with.
Lotteries are legal forms of gambling that are operated by governments or private organizations. They usually involve drawing numbers for a prize, although some also have games of chance or skill. They are a common source of revenue for public services such as education, healthcare and road construction. They are also used to raise funds for religious and charitable institutions.
In the United States, state-run lotteries are regulated by federal and state laws. Some states also allow private companies to conduct lottery sales and have separate programs for senior citizens, minors and military members. In Canada, a government-controlled organization called the Canadian Lottery Corporation runs the country’s national lottery. The company also operates several provincial lotteries.
Laos, a communist country in Southeast Asia, has a national lottery. However, a government source told RFA’s Lao Service that lottery officials are known to manipulate the results of the drawings. For example, the winning number in the Oct. 14 lottery drawing was 09, but the number vanished from purchased tickets throughout the day of the draw and appeared only as 5 in the final results. The winning number is associated with buffalo, a symbol of good luck.
The winner of the Powerball jackpot in Oregon was a Laotian immigrant who will give most of his winnings to a friend. He has not revealed his identity but is said to be a member of the Iu Mien ethnic group, which helped American troops during the Vietnam War and later immigrated to the United States.
In New Zealand, the national lottery is run by an autonomous Crown entity called Lotto New Zealand. Profits are distributed by the New Zealand Lottery Grants Board to charities and community organizations. Some of these are statutory bodies such as Sport and Recreation New Zealand, Creative New Zealand and the New Zealand Film Commission. The remainder is given to the Lottery New Zealand Trust, which grants money to arts and culture organizations.
In his talk, linguist Charles Zuckerman will explore lotteries in Laos since 1975, and how they have been rationalized by the Lao government as an economic activity consistent with socialist goals. He will then discuss the ways in which people played the lottery, chose their numbers and won during his ethnographic research in Luang Prabang from 2013-2016. This research was supported by a University of Sydney Global Research Initiatives grant. Zuckerman’s doctoral research focused on the cultural, moral and communicative dimensions of gambling in Laos.