A Laotian immigrant in Portland, Oregon, is sharing hundreds of millions of dollars with a friend after winning the lottery. Forty-six-year-old Cheng Saephan won the Powerball lottery, which is the fourth largest in history. He will take half the prize money and give the other half to his friend, who chipped in $100 to buy tickets with him. The win comes after eight years of battling cancer, which is why Saephan said it was important to share the good news.
Lottery officials in the communist country of Laos are rigging the system, manipulating winning numbers to avoid large pay-outs, sources in the nation tell RFA’s Lao Service. Drawings in the national lottery held three times a week often show numbers that disappear from purchased tickets or are deemed unlucky and unlikely to be chosen, according to the sources. In addition, they say that Lao state business interests with a stake in the lottery’s operation are monopolizing its profits and do not pass them on to the public.
Several types of lotteries are popular around the world. They include instant and scratch-off tickets, Keno and video lottery terminals. Some countries have a single nationwide lottery, while others have a combination of local and national games. In Canada, for example, there are four nationwide lotteries: the Atlantic Lottery Corporation (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador), the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (Ontario), the Western Canada Lottery Corporation (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Yukon and Northwest Territories) and the Quebecor Sports Totalizator (Quebec).
Although gambling is illegal in Laos, the nation has special economic zones where it is permitted. There are also numerous offshore online casinos that accept players from the country. In the United States, the lottery is a popular form of gambling that raises billions of dollars for state and local governments each year.
In the early 19th century, private lotteries were common in Europe and in the US as well, although they eventually became more difficult to conduct because of laws that prohibited them. In 1967, the Canadian federal government introduced a special law, called an Omnibus Bill, that brought up-to-date a number of obsolete laws, including one governing lotteries.
Today, the majority of American lotteries are operated by the state government with some by the private sector. In many cases, the proceeds from lotteries are used to support the state’s educational systems. In Australia, lottery operators are licensed at the state or territory level and include both public and private companies. In addition, the national company, Tatts Group, sells Australian lottery products worldwide. Two licensed re-sellers, Netlotto Pty Ltd and Jumbo Interactive, also sell lottery products in Australia.