A lottery is a form of gambling that involves the drawing of numbers at random for a prize. Some governments outlaw lotteries, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national or state lottery. It is common to find some degree of regulation of lottery by governments. The most common regulation is prohibition of sale to minors, and vendors must be licensed to sell lottery tickets. Although lotteries were common in the United States and some other countries during the 19th century, by the beginning of the 20th century, most forms of gambling, including lotteries and sweepstakes, were illegal in the U.S. and most of Europe as well as many other countries. This remained so until well after World War II. In the 1960s, casinos and lotteries began to re-appear throughout the world as a means for governments to raise revenue without raising taxes.
Sport Select is a group of sports betting games offered by Canada's lottery corporations. In Quebec, the program is known as Pari sportif; in Ontario and Atlantic Canada, it is known as Pro-Line while in British Columbia, it is known as Sports Action. However, the rules for the games are similar in all provinces. Initially created to offer betting primarily on the North American major professional sports leagues, Sport Select has expanded to offer betting on competitions such as the English Premier League and college sports.
R-kioski is a chain of convenience stores that is part of the Reitan Convenience division of the Reitan Group. Reitan's Eastern Nordic and Baltic portfolio includes R-kioski in Finland, R-kiosk in Estonia and Lietuvos spauda in Lithuania. There are 560 R-kioski shops across Finland as of 2017. They sell a range of products, such as books, magazines, cigarettes and tobacco, ready meals, snacks, soft drinks and alcoholic drinks such as beer and cider. R-kioski shops also provide services such as the various "Veikkaus" lottery games, prepaid SIM cards and top-up vouchers, postal services, fishing licences, as well as the sale of public transport tickets. Selected shops are also able to sell national rail and bus transport tickets.
Gambling in the United Kingdom is regulated by the Gambling Commission on behalf of the government's Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) under the Gambling Act 2005. This Act of Parliament significantly updated the UK's gambling laws, including the introduction of a new structure of protections for children and vulnerable adults, as well as bringing the burgeoning Internet gaming sector within British regulation for the first time.
The Oregon Lottery is run by the government of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is a member of the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL).
The Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency (MLGCA) is an independent agency of the Maryland government. The MLGCA operates the Maryland Lottery and serves as regulator for Maryland's casino and sports wagering programs and a number of ancillary gaming programs.
OPAP – Greek Organisation of Football Prognostics S.A. is a Greek company organizing and conducting games of chance. It is headquartered in Athens and for many years OPAP was a state-owned gambling monopoly. The company holds the exclusive rights to organize and manage numerical lotteries and sports betting in Greece. In 2013 the privatization of the company was completed through the sale of the State's remaining 33% stake to the Emma Delta investment scheme.
Gambling in New Jersey includes casino gambling in Atlantic City, the New Jersey Lottery, horse racing, off-track betting, charity gambling, amusement games, and social gambling. New Jersey's gambling laws are among the least restrictive in the United States. In 2013, the state began to allow in-state online gambling. Five years later, the state won a lawsuit that dismantled Nevada's monopoly on legal sports betting.
A lottery is a form of gambling which involves selling numbered tickets and giving prizes to the holders of numbers drawn at random. Lotteries are outlawed by some governments, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing their own national (state) lottery. It is common to find some degree of regulation by governments, like allowing or prohibiting online sales of tickets.
Gambling in Norway is illegal for the most part. Norsk Tipping and Norsk Rikstoto are the 2 only companies allowed to offer gambling services to Norwegian citizens. Norsk Tipping offers games like lotteries, sports betting, Keno and several others. Norsk Tipping is wholly state-owned company under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Culture and Church affairs, with rules about what times of day, and how much money players can bet. As of January 2019 all players have to be over 18 years of age to play all games of Norsk Tipping, including scratch tickets. Norsk Rikstoto is also state-owned and is the only company authorised to arrange horse race betting.
Eurojackpot is a transnational European lottery launched in March 2012. As of March 2024, the countries participating in the lottery are: Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain Sweden, and Greece.
PlayNow.com is an online gambling website owned and operated by the British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC). Launched in 2004, it first expanded into online casino games in 2010 offering online table games, slots, and sports betting. The site has since expanded into other provinces in Western Canada, as part of partnerships with Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries Corporation and the Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority (SIGA).
Finnish pesäpallo match-fixing scandal was a match fixing scandal in Finland that involved a large number of players, managers and other team officials of Superpesis, the top professional league of the Finnish sport of pesäpallo, a game similar to baseball.
Casino Helsinki is a casino located in Helsinki, Finland, located less than a ten minute walk from Central Railway Station. It's owned by government-owned Veikkaus and is one of the few casinos in the world, and the second in Finland, to donate all of its profits to charity. The other non-profit casino in Finland is Paf which donates all of its profits from the autonomous Åland islands. Casino Helsinki employs around 200 people, and it had around 305,000 visitors in 2009 with around 30 million euros of revenue.
EveryMatrix Ltd is a B2B iGaming software provider company founded in 2008 with its headquarters in Malta. EveryMatrix supplies online gambling platforms, products, and software to online casinos, sportsbook operators, and state-owned or private lotteries. EveryMatrix is a member of the European Lotteries Association and World Lotteries Association.
Sportradar AG is a multinational corporation with headquarters in St. Gallen, Switzerland, that collects and analyzes sports data for bookmakers, national and international sports federations, and media companies. As of 2022, the company has 35 offices in 19 countries around the world, including New York City, Las Vegas, London, Trondheim, Munich, Ljubljana, Sydney, Montevideo, and Singapore.
Gambling, other than betting on horse races or the government-sponsored Thai lottery, is prohibited in Thailand. The prohibition dates back to the Gambling Act 1935. The Playing Cards Act prohibits private ownership of more than 120 playing cards without approval of the government. Nevertheless, illegal gambling in casinos and other forms of gambling still exist in Bangkok and some provincial towns.
Video gaming in Finland consists of video game industry of 260 active video game developer studios, roughly a dozen professional players and countless enthusiastic amateurs.
Gambling in Nigeria is not well regulated. Although there is a gambling law in place, many illegal casinos operate in the country. The legal land-based casinos are located in the two largest cities. The biggest casino is The Federal Palace Hotel in Lagos. Nigerian law focuses on activities to reduce money laundering and illegal gambling.
Veikkaus Oy is the Finnish government-owned betting agency which holds a monopoly in the country. It was formed in 2017 as a merger of three previously existing betting and gambling agencies of Veikkaus, Fintoto and Finland's Slot Machine Association.
