Ministry of Finance warns about phenomenon of buying lottery tickets for others

According to the Ministry of Finance, lottery business activities began in 1962 in Vietnam. Currently, the country has 64 lottery businesses, including 63 state-owned enterprises in provinces and cities (divided by the Northern, Central and Southern regions) operating traditional lottery and Vietnam Computerized Lottery Company (Vietlott) operating computerized lottery nationwide.

In recent years, lottery business has met the legitimate entertainment needs of a segment of the population; contributed to the state budget a large resource for investment in the fields of education, training, vocational training, and healthcare; and created jobs for local workers.

Ministry of Finance warns about fake lottery ticket buying phenomenon — Recently, there has been a phenomenon of domestic enterprises providing foreign lottery ticket purchasing services in violation of the law. (Photo: TVPL)

According to the law, lottery business is a conditional business, subject to strict control by competent state agencies to ensure meeting the entertainment needs of a segment of people with legitimate income and ensuring security, order and social safety.

Only enterprises that have been granted a certificate of eligibility for lottery business by a competent state agency are allowed to organize lottery business activities; issuing lottery from abroad to domestic organizations and individuals is prohibited.

In addition, traditional lottery tickets of lottery companies in provinces and cities are only allowed to be distributed through lottery companies that sell directly to customers or through a lottery agent system that has signed an agency contract with the lottery company.

Vietlott's computerized lottery tickets are only distributed through the terminals of agents who have signed agency contracts with Vietlott and telephone (SMS). Up to now, the law has no regulations allowing the sale of lottery tickets over the internet and "buying lottery tickets on behalf of others".

However, recently, there have been cases of domestic enterprises providing foreign lottery ticket purchasing services that are not in accordance with the law; some websites and applications of payment intermediaries and credit institutions provide domestic lottery ticket purchasing services but do not return tickets to customers (only sending ticket images via email or the customer's personal account on the application).

For electronic lottery tickets, the image of the ticket returned via email or displayed in the application shows some information of the lottery ticket but it is not complete, only takes a picture of the ticket with the information of the number series chosen by the customer, without a security code. Using the image of the lottery ticket mentioned above is not in accordance with the law, does not guarantee the legal rights of the buyer.

These phenomena cause risks of disputes, lawsuits, and do not guarantee the rights of buyers (because buyers do not hold lottery tickets, so in case of winning, they may not be paid or forced to share the prize); potentially pose risks of money laundering, social evils, tax evasion, and causing social disorder and insecurity.

Faced with the above situation, the Ministry of Finance is coordinating with ministries, branches (Ministry of Information and Communications, Ministry of Public Security, etc.) and People's Committees of provinces and cities to strengthen management and supervision, perfect the legal framework for lottery business, and strictly handle acts that violate the provisions of the lottery law. At the same time, the Ministry of Finance has requested Lottery Companies and Vietlott to rectify the operations of agents, inspect and supervise the distribution of tickets by lottery agents, and stop business acts that violate the provisions of the law; in cases where there are signs of criminal violations, the case file will be transferred to the police for investigation and handling.

To ensure that lottery business activities operate stably and in accordance with the law, protect the legitimate rights and interests of lottery ticket buyers and ensure social security and order, the Ministry of Finance requests that organizations and individuals currently distributing lottery tickets over the Internet immediately cease business activities that are not in accordance with the law.

For customers buying lottery tickets, please note that you should only buy lottery tickets from the company or from authorized agents and must keep the lottery tickets to receive the prize when winning. In particular, for traditional lottery tickets, buy directly from the lottery agent system.

For electronic lottery tickets, there are currently only two official distribution channels via terminals at points of sale and via phone (SMS). Do not buy lottery tickets via the internet because this is an activity that is not permitted under the provisions of the lottery business law and does not guarantee the rights of customers. At the same time, absolutely do not buy foreign lottery tickets issued on websites and applications because they can be exploited for fraud.

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