Sunday, August 2, 2009

Losers, Prizes And Winners - About the Lotto Plus a Good Deal More

By Steve Conniery

A lottery is a very popular gambling past time where numbers are drawn and if a player has picked these exact same numbers then they win a prize. Some countries around the world endorse this form of gambling where as others don't, but in countries where gambling is legal, a national lottery has been formed. These National lotteries adhere to very strict regulations to make sure they are fair and just.

The lotteries have been devised in such a way to be effective yet at the same time fair. The organizers have achieved this by making sure that the prizes were either large cash prizes or expensive goods. They also had to sell a large number of tickets to ensure that there was no risk to the organizers as the rewards are a fixed percentage of the profits. Each ticket sold is sold with a unique number to demonstrate the guaranteed uniqueness. And to guarantee fairness each of these tickets also allows players to select their own numbers and so sometimes resulting in multiple winners.

In most countries including the UK, Australia and Canada winning the national lottery will have no tax consequences. This is because it is totally tax free, and all prizes are immediately distributed as soon as the winners have been declared plus the prizes are thankfully paid out in one lump sum.

In the United States a lottery winner will be given two options upon winning the jackpot; either between having annuity payments, where the payments are dispersed over a period of time ranging from ten to forty years or to have it paid as a one time payment which consequently is much smaller. However the tax rules are different in the US as they require taxes to be withheld from the lump sum prize before anything is even paid out to the winner and sometimes the winner is only presented with half the advertised jackpot.

Research has shown that just from the United States alone there are three lotteries that are among the largest in the world and these are from New York, Massachusetts and Texas. These state lotteries are becoming so big that they almost rival the world leading lotteries of Spain, Japan, France, Italy and the UK. The lottery game has also become so widespread that nearly every country in the world now has their own national lottery with payouts ranging from a few hundred to a few billion.

Statistics show that collectively the five largest lotteries in the world offer possible winnings of up to $10.4 billion with the Loterias y Aquestas del Estado in Spain offering the largest payout. Then its the Mizuho Bank Ltd in Japan as the second largest with $0.2 billion less than Spain, then third in line with $9.8 billion dished out, is the Bettors at Frances in Francaise des Jeux of France. Italy boasts the fourth with $8.9 billion and the National Lottery of the UK is the fifth. Then finally the Kookmin Bank Lottery in Korea and the Sisal Sports Italia S.p.A. lottery of Italy are in eighth and ninth positions

You can join a lottery by buying a ticket from one of the syndicate organizers

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