Lotteries are games of chance that award prizes based on numbers drawn in a random drawing. They can be operated by private businesses, government, or independent organizations. They can take a variety of forms, including instant tickets, scratch-off games, Keno, and video lottery terminals (VLTs). Depending on the jurisdiction in which they operate, lotteries may be legal or illegal. Some states ban them altogether, while others regulate them extensively and collect tax revenue from them.

In Canada, the provincial governments are responsible for conducting lotteries. In 1967, Montreal mayor Jean Drapeau, trying to recover some of the money spent on the World’s Fair and the new subway system, announced a “voluntary tax.” For a $2.00 “donation” players would be eligible to participate in a draw for a grand prize of silver bars—but the minister of justice claimed this was illegal.

Drapeau was eventually forced to drop the , but the resulting controversy helped bring the game into the public eye and stimulated public debate on the matter. In 1969 the Quebec government introduced a special law (an Omnibus Bill) to bring the city’s gambling laws up-to-date.

The government subsequently abolished the old law, which made it illegal to conduct a lottery, and instead adopted the federal criminal code’s definition of a lottery as a game where a person has an intangible chance of winning a specified prize, including money or goods. This was a significant change because, prior to the Omnibus Bill, purchasing a lottery ticket was considered a crime.

Since the 1970s, more and more lottery games have been introduced to the US. Many of these have been marketed as scratch-off tickets, and many are now sold online. The vast majority of these games are run by state or local governments, though some have been outsourced to private companies. The most famous of these is the Mega Millions, which is played in 44 US states and the District of Columbia.

This talk by anthropologist Charles (Chip) Zuckerman will explore the social and moral history of lotteries in Laos. He will explore how the communist regime rationalized its lottery system as an economic activity coherent with socialist goals, and look at what playing and choosing numbers meant for people on the ground. Using ethnographic research conducted in Luang Prabang between 2013 and 2016, he will consider the many ways in which the lottery was used, manipulated, and perceived in the community. He will also discuss the role that the lottery played in constructing Lao state enterprises more broadly.