A Laotian immigrant in Oregon is splitting hundreds of millions of dollars after winning a lottery prize. Cheng Saephan, 46, won a $1.3 billion Powerball jackpot earlier this month. He spoke at a news conference in Portland wearing a sash identifying himself as an Iu Mien, a southeast Asian ethnic group that includes many who assisted American troops during the Vietnam War and later settled in the United States. The win also has raised awareness about cancer, which Saephan has been battling for eight years.
Lotteries are government-regulated games of chance whose purpose is to raise funds for public benefit. They may be used to promote tourism, encourage savings, and fund public works projects. In the United States, there are state-run lotteries that sell tickets online and at retail outlets. Private companies can also run their own lotteries.
The lottery business is highly competitive. To attract customers, operators offer multiple promotions and bonuses. Some of the more popular promotions include free lottery entries and a cashback program. These incentives are designed to increase sales and customer loyalty. In addition, online lotteries have a number of unique advantages over brick-and-mortar lotteries. They can accept players from all over the world and offer instant-win prizes.
Despite the fact that gambling is illegal in many countries, the Internet has enabled people to play lottery-style games without breaking the law. Online gaming is becoming more and more popular as lottery companies try to capitalize on the growing trend. Currently, there are more than 200 websites that sell lottery-style games. The majority of these sites are operated by GTech Corporation, which administers 70% of worldwide online and instant lottery sales.
In some cases, lottery games are rigged by lottery officials. This is especially true in the communist country of Laos, where officials manipulate winning numbers to avoid large pay-outs. Drawings in the national lottery, which take place three times a week, often show numbers that disappear from purchased tickets. For example, the winning number 509 appeared as a 5 on tickets sold throughout the day of an Oct. 14 lottery drawing, then mysteriously changed to a 9 only an hour before the scheduled draw, a source in the capital told RFA’s Lao Service.
Some of these new lotteries are being created by private businesses, but the legal status of these enterprises is unclear. In some cases, the new online offerings are simply a marketing tool for traditional brick-and-mortar lottery operations. In other cases, the sites offer a legitimate way to purchase lottery tickets by charging premiums on base lottery prices. In either case, it is important for lottery-style games to be legal and transparent. This will protect the public from being defrauded and help to preserve the integrity of the industry.