Lotteries are games of chance that award prizes based on a random drawing. They are commonly used to raise money for public services or private enterprises. In the United States, lottery games are regulated by state law. The majority of lottery revenue is from ticket sales, but other sources of income include keno and video lottery terminals. The lottery industry is one of the world’s largest, with total revenue in excess of $34 billion in 2006. There are over 40 lotteries operating worldwide and about a dozen in Canada alone. The largest operator is the US-based GTech Corporation, which administers 70% of the world’s online and instant lottery business.
New Zealand has a public lottery – Lotto – and a privately owned lottery company, Lottery Management Corporation. Profits from the lottery are distributed by the New Zealand Lottery Grants Board to a number of charitable and community organizations. Sport and Recreation New Zealand, Creative New Zealand and the National Film Commission are among them. Lottery winnings are not taxed in New Zealand.
The governing body of the lottery is known as the Lottery Commission and is based in Wellington. The commission oversees the operation of the Lotto and all other national lottery games, including Instant Kiwi, Bullseye and Keno. The Commission also regulates the advertising and marketing of the lottery. The Lottery Commission is independent of the Government, but is funded by a percentage of the Lotto proceeds.
There are suspicions that the commission is not impartial. One source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told RFA that the business interests with a stake in the lottery’s work include people from the ruling elite. The same source said that some of the companies responsible for the lottery pay the government a significant annual cost to be able to operate it, but the public is not informed how much.
Another problem is alleged manipulation of lottery results. Specifically, there is speculation that the numbers are chosen based on who gives the most money, and that some numbers have more value than others. In addition, there are concerns that the weight of the lottery balls is manipulated to give certain numbers an advantage. This is because the heaviest ball will fall into the hole faster and thus have more chances of being drawn. A member of the lottery committee dismissed this allegation as nonsense.
In Canada, prior to 1967, buying a lottery ticket was illegal. That year the federal Liberal government introduced a special law called the Omnibus Bill to bring a number of obsolete laws up to date. The Omnibus Bill included an amendment that legalized the sale of lottery tickets. But even as the debate over the bill continued, sales of lottery tickets dropped. The reason was that the players did not want to participate in anything illegal.