Burmese lottery

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Aungbazay (Burmese: အောင်ဘာစေ; also spelt Aung Bar Zay, lit. "may you win") is Myanmar's official state lottery. The monthly lottery is administered by the Ministry of Finance's State Lottery Department.^[1][2] Lottery tickets are printed at a printing plant in Wazi, Magwe Region, at the same location where Burmese kyat notes and passports are printed.^[3][4]

The first Burmese lottery was introduced during the Konbaung Dynasty. A national state lottery was first established in 1878 during the reign of King Thibaw Min, in an attempt to raise state revenues.^[5] The lottery was the brainchild of Pho Hlaing, who had played the French lottery in Paris.^[5] Following ongoing issues with the administration of the lottery, including conflicts of interest, decreased revenues, condemnation against gambling by Buddhist monks, the lottery was ended in 1880.^[5]

The current lottery was first introduced in 1938 under British rule, and is the only legal form of gambling in the country.^[2] Revenues from lottery ticket sales generates US$28.8 million per year for the Burmese government, and over 30 million tickets are sold a month for the monthly drawing.^[2]