The Oregon lottery has given away a $1.3 billion prize, but the winner wants to keep his or her identity secret. VOA’s Claire Rush and Gene Johnson have more.
The history of lotteries in Laos begins with the country’s 1975 revolution. At that time the government rationalized a state lottery system as an economic activity in line with socialist goals. Since then, the lottery has become an institution that continues to be part of public life. Charles Zuckerman, a linguistic anthropologist who studies Laos, will trace the many things that playing, choosing numbers and winning the lottery means for people in contemporary Lao society.
Zuckerman is an anthropologist who works on the study of language and culture, with a focus on gender and morality. His doctoral research in Luang Prabang explored the social meanings of gambling and lotteries, and he is now turning this into a book. He will talk about what it was like to play and choose numbers in a provincial lottery system, and how that experience sheds light on the logic of the Lao state enterprise.
In the US, there are state and federal laws regarding how lotteries can operate. Generally, the winners must be publicly announced, but there are some states that allow winners to remain anonymous. In those cases, the lottery commission will work with the winner and his or her attorney to develop a plan for claiming the prize.
Lotteries are often used to raise money for education, public health, sports, and other services. In the United States, lotteries are regulated at the federal level by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and at the state level by state lottery boards.
A state lottery is a form of public or charitable gambling that uses random drawing to award prizes. In some countries, the lottery is a government-controlled organization while in others it is run by private businesses. In either case, the prizes are not necessarily cash; instead, they may be goods or services.
In Canada, there are four nationwide lotteries: Lotto 6/49, Lotto Max (which replaced Lotto Super 7 in September 2009), Daily Grand, and Millionaire Life. These are administered by the Interprovincial Lottery Corporation, a consortium of the five regional lottery commissions owned by their respective provincial/territorial governments: Atlantic Lottery Corporation (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador), Loto-Quebec (Quebec), Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (Ontario), Western Canada Lottery Corporation (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut), and BC Lottery Corporation (British Columbia).
In addition to public and private entities, there are some online companies that offer lottery games and provide other related services such as marketing, administration, and customer support. These online businesses typically charge a small fee for their service. These companies are licensed by the state to sell lottery tickets in their jurisdiction. In some cases, they also operate websites that allow players from other countries to purchase tickets.