lottery - Country Lottery details, Probability of winning, Notable prizes, Payment of prizes, Scams and frauds

A way of raising money through the sale of chances (tickets) and the use of a random procedure to decide the prize-winners. Very large numbers of people take part, producing a correspondingly large sum of money which (after deduction of taxes and organizational expenses) is available for prizes. Many countries now organize state lotteries, which provide an attractive extra source of government income, as well as offering a promise of vast wealth for a few. They have also been used to finance major projects, such as roads, buildings, and universities, as well as projects to do with the arts, the environment, and all forms of charity. The popularity of large lotteries has, at the same time, generated controversy, as stories come to light of families harmed by compulsive gambling or of winners unable to manage their new-found wealth, and there has been considerable opposition to lotteries throughout their history, with many accounts of bribery and corruption. Lotteries in Europe have been known since the 16th-c. Famous lotteries include those of Italy, Ireland (the Irish Hospitals' Sweepstake), and Australia (where a lottery helped finance the Sydney Opera House). Britain's national lottery began in 1994, changing its name to Lotto in 2002.

The first signs of a lottery trace back the Han Dynasty between 205 and 187 B.C., where ancient Keno slips were discovered. Many recent lotteries allow purchasers to select the numbers on the lottery ticket resulting in the possibility of multiple winners.

Lotteries are most often run by governments or local states and are sometimes described as a regressive tax, since those most likely to buy tickets will typically be the less affluent members of a society. Indeed, the desire of lottery operators to guarantee themselves a profit requires that a lottery ticket be worth substantially less than what it costs to buy. After taking into account the present value of the lottery prize as a single lump sum cash payment, the impact of any taxes that might apply, and the likelihood of having to share the prize with other winners, it is not uncommon to find that a ticket for a typical major lottery is worth less than one third of its purchase price.

The fact that lotteries are commonly played leads to some contradictions against standard models of economic rationality.

Lottery tickets are usually scanned in big numbers using marksense-technology. Brazil: Mega-Sena and various others Canada: Lotto 6/49 and Lotto Super 7 Dominican Republic: leidas,s.a. Ecuador: Lotería Nacional Mexico: Lotería Nacional para la Asistencia Pública Puerto Rico: Lotería Tradicional and Lotería Electrónica

Europe

Pan-European: "Euro Millions" Nordic countries: Viking Lotto Austria: Lotto 6 aus 45, "Euro Millions" and Zahlenlotto Belgium: Loterie Nationale or Nationale Loterij and "Euro Millions" Bulgaria: TOTO 2 6/49 Croatia: Hrvatska lutrija Denmark: Lotto Finland: Lotto France: La Française des Jeux and "Euro Millions" Germany: Lotto 6 aus 49 and Spiel 77 and Super 6 Greece: Lotto 6/49 , Joker 5/45 + 1/20 and various others Hungary: Lottó Iceland: Lottó Ireland: The National Lottery, An Chrannchur Náisiúnta and "Euro Millions" Italy: Lotto, Superenalotto Malta: Super 5 (Every Wednesday), Lotto (Lottu in Maltese) (Every Saturday) Netherlands: Staatsloterij Norway: Lotto Poland: Lotto Portugal: Lotaria Clássica, "Euro Millions" and Lotaria Popular Romania: Loteria Romana - 6/49, 5/40, Pronosport Serbia: Drzavna lutrija Srbije Slovakia: Tipos, národná lotériová spoločnosť, a.s. operating Loto, Joker, Loto 5 z 35, Euromilióny and various others Slovenia: Loterija Slovenije Spain: Loterías y Apuestas del Estado and "Euro Millions" Switzerland: Swiss Lotto and "Euro Millions" Turkey: Various games by Milli Piyango İdaresi (National Lottery Administration) including Loto 6/49 and jackpots United Kingdom: The National Lottery, the main game being Lotto. Visit: Luxembourg: "Euro Millions"

Asia

Hong Kong: Mark Six Israel: "Lotto" India: playwin Japan: Takarakuji Malaysia: Sports Toto, Magnum and Magnum 4D, Pan Malaysian Pools (da ma chai) Philippines: Lotto 6/42, Mega Lotto 6/45, Super Lotto 6/49, 6 Digits Luzon, 4 Digits, Suertres Lotto, EZ2 Lotto Russia: Sportloto Singapore: TOTO, 4D South Korea: Lotto Taiwan: Lottery

Africa

South Africa: South African National Lottery

Australia

Australia: Australian Lottery Games, Powerball

New Zealand

New Zealand: Lotto

Country Lottery details

In several countries, lotteries are legalized by the governments themselves. In addition, with the explosion of the internet, several online web only lotteries and traditional lotteries with online payments too have surfaced.

Lottery in the United States

In the United States, the existence of lotteries is subject to the laws of each state; Before the advent of state-sponsored lotteries, many illegal lotteries thrived;

The first modern interstate lottery in the U.S. was Tri-State Lotto.

Instant tickets, also known as scratchcards, were first introduced in the 1970s and have since become a major source of state lottery revenue.

Other interstate lotteries include: Hot Lotto, Lotto South, and Wild Card 2.

Nowadays, many state lotteries in the USA donate large portions of their proceeds to the public education system.

Lottery in Canada

The first lottery in Canada was Quebec's Inter-Loto in 1970. Other provinces and regions introduced their own lotteries through the 1970s, and the federal government ran Loto Canada (originally the Olympic Lottery) for several years starting in the late 1970s to help recoup the expenses of the 1976 Summer Olympics.

Today, Canada has two nation-wide lotteries: Lotto 6/49 (which started in 1982), and Lotto Super 7 (which started in 1994). These games are administered by the Interprovincial Lottery Corporation, which is a consortium of the five regional lottery commissions, all of which are owned by their respective provincial and territorial governments:

Atlantic Lottery Corporation (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador) Loto-Québec (Quebec) Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (Ontario) Western Canada Lottery Corporation (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Yukon Territory, Northwest Territories, Nunavut) British Columbia Lottery Corporation (British Columbia)

Lottery in France

The first known lottery in France was created by King Francis I in or around 1505.

They reappeared at the end of 17th century, as a "public lottery" for the Paris municipality (called Loterie de L'Hotel de Ville) and as "private" ones for religious orders (mostly for nuns in convents).

Lotteries became quickly one of the most important resources for religious congregations in the 18th century.

Lotteries helped to build or rebuild many churches (about 15 including the biggest ones) in Paris during the 18th century, including St Sulpice and Le Panthéon.

At the beginning of the century, the King avoided having to fund religious orders by giving them the right to run lotteries, but the amounts generated became so large that the second part of the century turned into a struggle between the monarchy and the Church for control of the lotteries.

This lottery became known a few years later as the Loterie Royale de France.

Throughout the 18th century, philosophers like Voltaire as well as some bishops complained that lotteries exploit the poor.

All lotteries (including state lotteries) were frowned upon by idealists of the French Revolution, who viewed them as a method used by the rich for cheating the poor out of their wages.

The Lottery reappeared in France in 1936, called loto, when socialists needed to increase state revenue.

Lottery in New Zealand

Lotteries in New Zealand are controlled by the New Zealand government. A state owned trading organisation, the New Zealand Lotteries Commission, operates low prize scratch ticket games and powerball type lotteries with weekly prize jackpots. Lottery profits are distributed by The New Zealand Lottery Grants Board's directly to charities and community organisations.

The lotteries are drawn on Saturday and Wednesday.

Probability of winning

The chances of winning a lottery jackpot are principally determined by several factors: the count of possible numbers, the count of winning numbers drawn, whether or not order is significant and whether drawn numbers are returned for the possibility of further drawing.

In a typical 6 from 49 lotto, 6 numbers are drawn from 49 and if the 6 numbers on a ticket match the numbers drawn, the ticket holder is a jackpot winner - this is true regardless of the order in which the numbers are drawn.

The odds of winning any actual lottery can vary widely depending on lottery design.

Most lotteries give lesser prizes for matching just some of the winning numbers.

In the UK National Lottery the smallest prize is £10 for matching three balls.

The expected value of lottery bets is often notably bad.

Notable prizes

Prize	Lottery	Country	Name	Date	Notes
$365m (€306m, £210m)	Powerball	United States	One ticket bought jointly by eight co-workers at a Nebraska meat processing plant	18 February 2006	World's largest lottery jackpot prize
$363m (€291.21m, £200m)	The Big Game	United States	Two winning tickets: Larry and Nancy Ross (Michigan), Joe and Sue Kainz (Illinois)	9 May 2000	The Big Game is now named Mega Millions
€183m ($220m, £124.8m)	EuroMillions	France(2), Portugal(1)	Three ticket holders	3 February 2006	Europe's largest jackpot
€115m ($142.4m, £77m)	EuroMillions	Ireland	Dolores McNamara	29 July 2005	Europe's largest single winner
€71.8m ($91.6m, £48m)	SuperEnalotto	Italy	One ticket bought jointly by ten bar customers in Milan	4 May 2005	Largest Italian prize
£42m (€60.3m, $74.7m)	National Lottery	United Kingdom	Three ticket holders	6 January 1996	Largest UK prize
£20.1m (€28.8m, $35.7m)	National Lottery	United Kingdom	Iris Jeffrey	14 July 2004	Biggest single winner (UK)
$850,000	Powerball	United States	Senator Judd Gregg	20 October 2005	Famous person

Sources: http://www.usamega.com/archive-052000.htm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4746057.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4676172.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4740982.stm http://www.sisal.it/se/se_main/1,4136,se_Record_Default,00.html On 20 September 2005 a primary school boy in Italy won £27.6 million in the national lottery.

Payment of prizes

Winnings are not necessarily paid out in a lump sum, contrary to the expectation of many lottery participants.

In some online lotteries, the annual payments can be as little as $25,000 over 40 years, with a balloon payment in the final year.

In some countries, lottery winnings are not subject to personal income tax, so there are no tax consequences to consider in choosing a payment option.

Scams and frauds

Lottery, like any form of gambling, is susceptible to fraud, despite the high degree of scrutiny offered by the organizers.

Some advance fee fraud scams on the Internet are based on lotteries.

Another form of lottery scam involves the selling of "systems" which purport to improve a player's chances of selecting the winning numbers in a Lotto game.