If you’re visiting Laos and want to participate in the national lottery, there are a few things you should know. The first is that the numbers are drawn three days a week. You can also play the Laos lotto online. The official website has a lot of information, including previous results. The website also has a link to the live lottery draw.
You can play the Laos lotto in two ways: buy lottery passes or choose your numbers by yourself. The former involves finding a tiny efficiency store that sells lottery passes; they can be found in some dining establishments and hotel lobbies, too. A pass costs 30,000 kip (about $2). Once you’ve purchased your ticket, you can select your numbers and wait to see if you win!
The Laos national lottery is a big deal in this tiny nation. Although it’s not as popular as the state lotteries in the United States, the lottery is an important part of the gambling culture here. The lottery is also the main source of income for the government and the church, and it has fueled many public works projects in recent years. In addition, it helps keep the state budget balanced. The government also maintains a strict control over the lottery system to ensure that it does not become corrupt.
A woman who grew up in an orphanage and came to the US after being adopted has donated some of her lottery winnings to help find her birth family in Laos. Xia Rattanakone, 44, won the $55 million jackpot in the French Lottery’s 6/49 game in November.
She plans to spend the rest of her winnings on her children and a trip back to Laos, where she hopes to reconnect with her biological parents. She is also considering donating some of the money to other orphanages.
While the curvy squiggles that comprise the Lao alphabet can be difficult to decipher, these go-to phrases will win you favor with the locals:
Suh-bye-dee (say-soo-bee-day) is the standard greeting and means “hello.” Good-morning is “saibaidee baw,” or if it’s evening, good-night is “saibaidee nyam leng.” Addresses are rarely present in the country, so these useful words will help you communicate with Songtaew drivers and bus and tuk-tuk drivers.
Charles Zuckerman is a linguistic anthropologist who studies Laos. His doctoral project explored the moral and communicative dimensions of gambling in Luang Prabang, and he is turning this research into a book. His talk will trace the political, economic and moral history of the Lao national lottery since 1975, and examine what playing the lottery, choosing numbers and winning meant for people on the ground.