Playing the lottery is a popular pastime in the Caribbean, where there are multiple lottery games. Most commonly played among these games is The Caribbean Lottery Super Lotto, where the jackpot can reach $5 million. The lottery can provide a financial windfall for Caribbean citizens like James Matthew, who in May won $20,000. The lottery industry in the Caribbean is expanding, with games from Supreme Ventures becoming popular. The company also shows how more people are using their phones to play.
Lotteries are popular across the globe with every country having their own version. In this article we will look at 4 countries where lotteries are extremely popular: the U.S., the UK, Vietnam, and the Philippines.
U.S. Lotteries: Powerball and Mega Millons
The main Lotteries in the U.S. are the Powerball and Mega Millions ($2 per ticket). Betting in both is straightforward: choose 5 numbers from one set and 1 number from another set. Powerball players need to pick 5 numbers from 1 to 69, and 1 number from 1 to 26. Mega Millions players, on the other hand, need to pick 5 numbers from 1 to 70, and 1 number from 1 to 25. A ticket wins if all 6 numbers match the 6 numbers drawn. Draws for the Powerball are held every Wednesday and Saturday, while draws for the Mega Millions are held every Tuesday and Friday. If not won, the grand prize for both rolls over to the next draw. This is why Powerball and Mega Millions jackpots sometimes breach the $500 million mark. The largest Powerball jackpot was $1.586 billion, while the biggest Mega Millions grand prize was $1.537 billion. The format of both the Powerball and Mega Millions is the same as The Caribbean Lottery. In the latter, however, bettors need to pick only 5 numbers from 1 to 28, plus 1 Super Ball from 1 to 10. The jackpots in The Caribbean Lottery, though, are much smaller.
Lotto: UK’s Game of Choice
Lotto (once known as The National Lottery) is the lottery game of choice in the UK. Betting in Lotto is even simpler: pick 6 numbers from 1 to 59. A ticket costs £2 ($2.44), which can yield a grand prize anywhere from £2 million ($2.44 million) to £5 million ($6.09 million). To win, the bettor’s chosen digits must match all 6 digits in the draw, held every Wednesday and Thursday. Getting 2–5 numbers correct wins consolation prizes. Lotto also offers a “Lucky Dip” option where a bettor can ask for a computer-generated set of 6 numbers.
Vietnam’s Lotto Game
A Forbes article on Vietnam relaxing its once strict gambling laws notes that the Vietnamese government is now legalizing forms of betting to lure foreign investments and raise tax revenue. But that won’t put a dent on a local favorite: playing the lottery. An Expatbets’ guide to the Vietnam’s lottery reports that winnings can range from 100,000 to 2 billion Vietnamese Dong ($4.31–$86,123). Playing the lottery is a popular Vietnamese pastime, with tickets priced at 10 Vietnamese Dong ($0.00043) a piece. The most commonly played in Vietnam is the Lotto Game. Here, bettors buy tickets where a string of 6 numbers are indicated, along with the draw date and the province. Results are then drawn in each of the 63 provinces where lotteries are operated. A ticket whose last 2 digits match the last 2 digits of the draw wins 100,000 Vietnamese Dong ($4.31). If the last 3 digits match, the ticket nets 200,000 Vietnamese Dong ($8.62). The prize goes up as more digits match: 4 digits wins 1 million Vietnamese Dong ($43); 5 digits gets anywhere between 3–30 million Vietnamese Dong ($129.18–$1,291.85); and 6 digits secures the special prize of 2 billion Vietnamese Dong ($86,123). The Lotto Game follows a much different format than The Caribbean Lottery and also gives smaller payouts.
Lotteries in the Philippines
As in Vietnam, lotteries are popular in the Philippines. In fact, it has 5 major lottery games — 6/42, 6/45, 6/49, 6/55, and 6/58 — that follow almost the exact format as that of The Caribbean Lottery. In the Philippines, however, bettors need to pick 6 numbers (as opposed to The Caribbean Lottery’s 5 + 1 system) in their game of choice. So, if bettors want to bet in 6/42, they will have to select 6 numbers from 1–42. A ticket for each game costs Php.24 ($0.38). Minimum jackpots, meanwhile, are Php. 6 million ($115,027), Php. 9 million ($172,541), Php. 16 million ($306,739), Php. 30 million ($575,136), and Php. 50 million ($958,5610), respectively. The prizes are smaller than The Caribbean Lottery’s grand prize, but the tickets are cheaper. There are also more games (daily draws!), which theoretically means more chances of hitting the jackpot.
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