Lottery cheats

A different type of crackdown is taking place in China.

BEIJING (Reuters) - China plans to issue its first comprehensive rules for the lottery industry next year, aiming to stamp out a growing tide of fraud, the official Xinhua news agency said Sunday.

Lotteries have become hugely popular in China, where many forms of gambling are banned, helping to raise billions of dollars for public welfare and education projects.

But lottery-related crimes have also been on the rise and underground schemes have become rampant across the country in recent years, bankrupting many families.

Earlier this month, a lottery ticket seller was sentenced to life in prison for taking advantage of a system flaw to illegally cash in 28 million yuan ($3.8 million) in winning tickets.

"Lack of laws and regulations on lottery supervision has become a significant factor that has impeded the sound development of the industry," Xinhua quoted Ding Feng, deputy head of the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council, or cabinet, as saying.

Government run games can be fixed, my wife tells me those in the Philippines have an uncanny habit of being won by government employees or people associated with politicians. Here in the United States, cheating is a little more subtle. With state lotteries spending a half million dollars contesting a five dollar winning ticket or lotteries showing no sympathy to a dying man.

Don't get me started on casinos either. Read these posts of mine to see how they are rigged too. Gambling today looks to be more and more an act of foolishness. Then people like myself continue to play these games. A sucker is born every minute, right?

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