Hanoi Lotto is one of Vietnam’s most beloved gambling games, raising millions for social causes and infrastructure development projects while providing income to poor individuals unable to find other employment. While becoming part of Vietnamese culture and society as an integral form of income generation for some individuals who cannot find alternative work; its dark side can be exploited by criminals.
The game of lottery involves guessing a set of numbers and matching them over successive draws in hopes that one matches up and wins the jackpot prize. Operated by the government, lottery gambling has become one of Vietnam’s most beloved forms of gambling and one of its primary sources of state revenues.
At the start of 2018, lottery firms contributed over 22 trillion dong to Vietnam’s state budget and provided relief for poor and elderly populations. Ho Chi Minh saw lottery firms employing over 2,000 workers daily and selling 30 million tickets daily – which contributed significantly to helping these vulnerable groups.
Lotterie companies rely on an intricate network to distribute and sell tickets in this sprawling city of 5.2 million. At its heart lies a central agency which prints tickets, which are then given to wholesale distributors who, in turn, distribute them among retailers who resell them individually to individual sellers who share in a 13% commission allotted by government. Many sellers are immigrants recruited from villages living in filthy boarding houses; others may be poor urban residents turning to ticket selling out of desperation.
Ho Chi Minh, with over one-quarter of its population living below poverty line, is home to numerous ticket sellers who hustle around hustling customers into purchasing tickets – some making as much as 230 000 VN-Dong in a day, enough for survival of themselves and their families.
Phuoc has been selling lottery tickets for 10 years to finance his basic necessities. On average he makes around VND1 million per night; on lucky days this can rise up to 230 000 dong.
Though the Ministry of Finance stipulates that street vendors can return unsold tickets at the end of every day to their dealers, many do not do so due to an unwritten agreement that those returning tickets may be punished by their agents who may reduce commission or even kick them out of business altogether.
Though hanoi lotto salespeople make every attempt at being courteous, customers still view them as pests. People who have purchased tickets from these salespeople report being duped into buying fake winning tickets; social workers have encouraged children who lack protection to take up this trade rather than beg or steal; however they remain vulnerable and face little protection from criminal syndicates that exploit them.