Category Archives: Lottery

Mainland China’s lottery chalks 8.9% growth in May

Sales of lottery tickets in mainland China grew by almost 9 percent in May as Chinese wagered more in sports.

Data from China’s Ministry of Finance showed that total sales of official lottery products in May grew by 8.9 percent to RMB37.70 billion (US$5.51 billion) in year-on-year terms. The lottery sales, however, was 1.4 percent slower last month compared to April’s data.

For the January to May 2017 period, total sales of lottery products in mainland China in rose by 6.8 percent to RMB171.19 billion (US$25.13 billion).

The sales were led by sports lottery, which grew 19.8 percent to RMB19.47 billion ($2.91 billion). Welfare lottery sales, however, decreased by 0.8 percent year-on-year, to RMB18.23 billion ($2.68 billion.

Lottery jackpot rigger's Iowa convictions dismissed

The Iowa Supreme Court has dismissed the conviction of an Iowa man who just last week pleaded guilty in federal court to charges related with rigging lottery computers in order to win jackpots, but the dismissal has little practical impact on the case.Insider Buzz, Hot Lotto, Scandal, Technology, Security, Computerized Drawings, Crime, Multi-State Game, Court

Audit report links Essel Group firms in $1.83B India lottery scam

Two companies associated with business conglomerate Essel Group have been linked to the INR11,808 crore (US$1.83 billion) lottery scam in the Indian state of Mizoram.

Several weeks ago, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) came out with a report, in which it revealed “a host of anomalies in the way the Mizoram government handled the state lotteries,” resulting in the state losing to close to $ billion in revenue.

The CAG said the Mizoram government never collected sales proceeds, only allowing the distributors to deposit a “minimum guaranteed revenue” to the state instead of the required 10-percent commission. The CAG also found that all the lottery schemes were proposed by the distributors and the state approved all of them without any alterations.

Now, new details have emerged in the CAG investigation, including charges that Mizoram government officials and lottery ticket distribution companies played favorites in awarding tenders.

The 5 lottery jackpots Tipton and his friends stole

Eddie Tipton, the now-infamous former security chief at the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL), is accused of installing software on Random Number Generators that allowed him to predict winning combinations for drawings that occurred on three dates every non-leap year — Nov. 23, Dec. 29 and May 27.Insider Buzz, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Wisconsin, Iowa, Hot Lotto, Scandal, Technology, Security, Computerized Drawings, Fraud, Crime, Multi-State Game

FBI missed rigged jackpot in 2006 before lottery scheme grew

A 2006 inquiry by the FBI into a lottery won by Tiption, a Texas judge, failed to uncover a jackpot rigging conspiracy. A decade later, the inquiry stands out as a missed chance to stop a jackpot rigging scandal that would corrupt the $70 billion lottery industry for years while enriching a tiny group of insiders. The FBI didn’t uncover one fact that its informant knew but didn’t see as significant: that Tipton’s brother, Eddie Tipton, was a lottery industry employee.Insider Buzz, Scandal, Technology, Security, Computerized Drawings, Fraud, Crime

India’s privately run lotteries join 28% ‘luxury’ tax slab

No more zero tax for lottery tickets in India.

On Sunday, the constitutional body tasked with overseeing the goods and services tax (GST) system in the country announced a dual tax rate for lottery tickets just in time before the new indirect tax regime rolls out on July 1.

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the council decided that state-run lotteries, which do not have private distributors or marketing agents, would be charged a 12 percent GST rate, while lotteries operated by private distributors will fall under the highest tax slab of 28 percent.

The GST would be charged on the face value of the lottery tickets, not on the margin retained by the government or private distributors, said Jaitley.