Lottery Online
Internet lottery games are games of chance where players select numbers to win a prize. They may be played for free or cost a premium on the base price of a lottery ticket. Lottery online gaming is regulated by state and provincial gambling laws in Canada. In the United States, a number of Internet companies provide free or fee-based games of chance. GTech Corporation, based in West Greenwich, Rhode Island, administers about 70% of the worldwide online and instant lottery business. The company was founded in 1995, and pioneered the Web’s first online lottery game, PLUS Lotto. It also introduced the first instant scratchcard games on the Internet. The company supports charitable projects domestically and internationally.
The National Lottery in the UK is a public lottery regulated by the Gambling Commission. It is one of the world’s largest lottery operators with a turnover exceeding £8 billion a year. The company’s operations include EuroMillions, which is a pan-European lottery, and the UK’s National Lottery, which has a prize pool of around £250 million per draw. It also runs the UK Health Lottery, which raises funds for good causes.
New Zealand has a government-controlled lottery operated by an autonomous Crown entity, Lotto New Zealand. Lottery profits are allocated by the Lottery Grants Board directly to charitable and community organizations. Lotto has four games: the Lotto, Powerball, Keno and Bullseye.
In Thailand, the Government Lottery or hwy (huay) is run by the state-owned Loterias y Apuestas del Estado. The lottery has a total prize pool of up to THB 50 billion annually and is primarily used to fund social welfare services. In addition, the lottery is used to finance sporting and cultural events, and provide emergency funding to hospitals and schools.
Laos: The state-run Lottery in Laos is called “Sokxay Chaleun”. The company distributes lottery tickets, including 2 digit, 3 digit, 4 digit and 5 digits and operates a mobile app and electronic sales system nationwide. It is owned by Sokxay Somchayneuk, a member of the Sokxay Group. The lottery is a big source of revenue for the country.
In September of this year, a Lao immigrant in Oregon won the Powerball lottery and became a billionaire. His win has brought attention to the Iu Mien people, a minority group with roots in southern China that fled from Laos to Thailand and then to the United States after the Vietnam war. The man, named Cheng Saephan, wore a sash at his news conference to identify himself as an Iu Mien and to thank the American people for their support.