The Internet has revolutionized lottery play by enabling people to buy tickets for their favorite lotteries and other gambling games online. Online lottery companies provide a variety of services for the purchase and sale of lottery tickets, including software to manage the games and to track player activity. The lottery industry is regulated by state and federal laws. Online lottery sites must have a license from the state where they operate. They must also follow state and federal gambling laws and be supervised by the gaming control board in their respective jurisdictions.
Some online lottery games are designed to mimic traditional lottery games by allowing players to purchase virtual tickets for a chance to win the top prize or jackpot, which is usually a large sum of money. In addition, some online lottery sites offer premiums on the base price of a ticket, such as a drawing video or additional chances to win a certain prize. These premiums can make a significant difference in the amount of money a player can win.
A Portland man has claimed a $1.3 billion Powerball jackpot prize, making it the fourth-largest prize in US history. Cheng Saephan won the prize after matching all four of the winning numbers in Thursday’s drawing. He will split the jackpot with his wife and a friend who chipped in $100 to buy a batch of tickets with them. The winner is keeping his identity private, as Oregon law requires winners to keep their names and addresses secret with few exceptions.
In Laos, officials have been accused of rigging the national lottery to avoid paying out large prizes. During the last three drawing sessions, numbers that were supposed to be chosen have appeared on purchased tickets and then vanished during the actual drawings, sources in the communist country told RFA’s Lao Service. In one case, the number 509 appeared as 134 on tickets sold throughout the day but then disappeared from the drawing, and the radio announced that the winning number was 59 only an hour before the event.
The government-owned lottery enterprise has reduced the number of lotteries issued each week and stopped selling scratch-card lottery games after hearing public complaints that they lured people into habitual betting, a minister said. “Private business interests should not be allowed to be responsible for the national lottery, because the drawings can’t be trusted,” he said. He added that government officials are investigating if private businesses pay bribes to secure a license to sell the lottery, and he called on the people to support efforts to stop illegal lottery activities.