Vietnam has an avid lottery-playing population, who hope to win big and improve their lives through gambling. Though Vietnam’s lottery industry provides significant revenue to the state, there can also be financial complications caused by addiction; also illegal gambling operators lure players away from official lottery games which reduce revenues for the government.
The Vietnamese government is striving to increase lottery popularity and make it a safer form of entertainment, yet despite its challenges it remains an invaluable source of income for poor families in particular in the South where lottery companies contributed over VND22 trillion last year to state budget. Furthermore, lottery offers employment for elderly and disabled individuals alike and its success stands as proof of Vietnamese people’s love of chance as they believe luck plays an integral part of life.
Vietnamese can now enjoy Mega 6/45 lottery, an electronic computerized game with six numbers and a jackpot starting at VND12 billion ($538,000). It was introduced by Vietlott – Vietnam’s official lottery operator – in conjunction with Malaysian conglomerate Berjaya.
Mega 6/45 lottery is quickly gaining popularity among Vietnamese citizens due to its glittering displays. The lottery company hopes that by increasing sales and competing with computerized games that have emerged recently in Vietnam, sales will increase. To attract customers, Mega 6/45 increased its top prize by 33%; Jackpot 1 was awarded to ticket holder selecting 06-08-23-25-33-35 number combination as their winning ticket number.
Lottery sellers are a common sight on Vietnam’s streets. Each ticket costs 10,000 dong (about 50 cents), and sellers earn just a few cents from every sale they make – most can’t work due to health or family reasons, opting for selling lottery tickets instead of engaging in socially unacceptable begging acts like beggary.
On good days, a single mother lottery seller may make up to 230 000 dong – enough for herself and her baby girl. On less-than-ideal days, though, losses of up to 100,000 dong may occur.
Although gambling is illegal in Vietnam, authorities struggle to regulate it effectively and it remains one of the world’s fastest-growing industries. People trafficking, animal trading, drug dealing and arms dealing are also flourishing across Asia – making the region a hotbed for illegal trade activity.
Authorities are making efforts to regulate gambling by creating a special committee on gambling, encouraging local parishes to provide safe accommodation and health insurance for lottery sellers such as Phuoc and her mother; yet lottery sellers like Phuoc remain at the fringes of this business with no assurance they will make it in future; nonetheless they continue to sell lottery tickets as their only means of income generation.