Lottery in Laos is an exciting pastime that offers generous payouts for those who correctly match the winning numbers. To encourage participation, its prize structure offers six times greater returns when all four digits match; matching any combination of three can yield threefold returns on investment!
However, lottery games in the communist nation have long been beset with allegations of rigging and manipulation of winnings. Drawings are broadcast live online for players to compare entries. Unfortunately, numbers that appeared on tickets often go missing from purchased ones; additionally, drawn numbers often seem erratic – leading to speculation of possible wrongdoing by lottery authorities.
Last month’s $1.3bn Powerball lottery win by Cheng Saephan of Portland and Laos added further cause for doubt about his claim of luck in winning it all. As part of the Iu Mien ethnic group, Saephan has been fighting cancer for eight years, praying and hoping that something special would happen before passing on from this life – so decided to split his lump sum payment of $422m with one friend who chipped in $100 to purchase tickets with him.
Since its inaugural drawing in 1975, the state lottery has been plagued with allegations of rigged numbers and corruption. While government efforts have sought to rationalize it as an economic activity with socialist goals in mind, its moral and ethical underpinnings remain unexamined.
Though gambling is technically illegal in Laos, its government allows several Special Economic Zones to operate and sell casino games to both locals and international visitors. Furthermore, players from Laos can still gamble at offshore casinos that provide popular games without fear of getting caught.
Recently, the office of Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith issued a directive encouraging the Ministry of Finance, which oversees the legal state lottery, to work together with the Ministry of Public Security to address this problem. According to this directive, lottery drawings must be reduced from multiple weekly sessions and winnings should be handled more transparently while informal football lotteries sold through SMS services should also be discontinued.
Vilasack Phommaluck, an official with the Ministry of Finance and member of the state lottery steering committee, told RFA that some changes had been implemented as a response to recent controversy; however, his committee’s authority does not include blocking specific numbers or restricting sales of them.
The committee may consider changes that will restore faith in the game, such as cutting the drawing frequency back down to once every week; however, those plans have yet to be finalized and many people continue betting their hard-earned money on future drawings.