Lottery games are just as popular in Asia as they are on any other continent, if not more so. In some regions, such as Hong Kong in China, the vast majority of the adult population plays at least one lottery game on a regular basis, and there are a couple of possible reasons for this. One is that lottery participation in Asia is often viewed as a sign of belonging to the community as a whole, so playing a regional lottery is taken as a good sign that the player is ‘one of the locals’. Another possible reason for the particularly heightened interest in lottery games in Asia is that participating in lotteries is often viewed as a way to make it possible for ‘auspicious circumstances’ to manifest in the life of a player.
Auspicious Circumstances
To appreciate the latter point more fully, it should be understood that throughout most parts of Asia there is a widespread belief – consciously held or otherwise – in a ‘law of karma’. This can be generally summarised as a belief that positive thoughts, words and deeds help to bring about beneficial experiences in life, whilst negative thoughts, words and deeds help to bring about negative experiences. Many people in Asia play lottery games as a way of giving their good karma a chance to show up in the form of financial windfalls.
Of course, not everyone who plays lottery games in Asia does so because they have a belief in karma. Gambling games of all kinds are also played in Asia for purely recreational purposes, and so many people participate in lottery games just for the thrill of taking part. If fate, karma or anything else helps a player to win a jackpot as a result of buying a ticket, so much the better! In Western terms, if they aren’t in the game, they can’t win the game!
Asia is the largest and the most densely populated continent in the world, so it should come as no surprise to hear that there are plenty of games for players to choose from. What might surprise many is that some of the most popular games in Asia have a strikingly similar format to those played in the USA and Europe. For example, one of the biggest lottery games in Japan is the Loto 6, and that is a straightforward 6 from 43 game that ways out a jackpot to anyone matching all six of their selections, as well as consolation prizes to anyone who matches three or more selections. Over in Hong Kong, the Mark Six game is an equally straightforward 6 from 49 lottery which is very similar to the Lotto game in the UK (but with two additional consolation prize levels).
Because many of the most popular lotteries in Asia have the same kind of format as the most popular games in the West, there is little difference in how they are played. Players can select their own numbers or have them selected at random, and tickets can be purchased from authorised offline retailers or online. If all of the selected numbers are drawn when the lottery takes place then the player wins the jackpot!