Lottery winners can choose to take the money in a lump sum or over 30 years. The winners must also pay federal and state taxes on the prize. The winner of the Powerball jackpot in Oregon, 46-year-old Cheng Saephan, will receive about $422 million after taxes. He will split it with a friend who chipped in $100 to buy the tickets with him. The winning ticket was sold at a Plaid Pantry convenience store in Portland. Saephan is an immigrant from Laos, a member of the Iu Mien ethnic group that fled to Thailand and then to the United States after the Vietnam War. He and his wife, Duanpen, will live in a house near Portland with their two children. He also has a business and is a volunteer with the American Red Cross.
In the United States, there are many state-run lotteries. Some of them are operated by the state government, while others are run by private companies. Several of these companies have also taken the initiative to sell lottery tickets online. This has helped increase the popularity of the game and brought in new players from around the world.
The history of the modern lottery can be traced back to the 16th century in France and the Netherlands. It started out as a public lottery for the city of Paris and eventually became an important source of revenue for the French crown. Lotteries were also popular in other parts of Europe. Despite their popularity, there were many objections to the legality of the games.
One of the main reasons for this was that the profits from the lottery were not used to improve municipal services. In addition, the games were often played in dark urban areas where they were illegal. In order to avoid being accused of illegal gambling, the lottery organizers used to cover the games with advertisements and charging premiums on the base lottery price.
Currently, there are four nationwide lotteries in Canada: the Atlantic Lottery Corporation (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador), the Loto-Quebec (Quebec), the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (Ontario), and the Western Canada Lottery Corporation (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Northwest Territories, Yukon, and Nunavut). Each lottery is operated independently under a license from the provincial/territorial government.
Although gambling is technically illegal in Laos, the country does have a number of Special Economic Zones that allow for certain types of gaming. This has led to an increase in the popularity of online casinos that accept players from Laos and other countries. These websites typically offer the same casino games as their brick-and-mortar counterparts, but with added convenience of playing from home. They also tend to have a lower minimum deposit requirement.