In most parts of Asia there is a widely held belief – consciously or otherwise – in the ‘law of karma’. The basic principle is that positive thoughts, words and deeds bring about good experiences in life, whilst negative ones have the opposite effect. For this reason, many people in Asia play lottery games as a way of giving their ‘good karma’ a chance to manifest itself in the form of financial windfalls.

Lottery games are incredibly popular across the globe, and Asia is no exception. Some of the continent’s most popular games share a similar format to those in the West, with prize pools that often run into the millions. One such game is the China Welfare Lottery, known as Shuangseqiu, which is essentially Powerball for the Chinese market. It’s a simple 6 from 43 lottery that pays out big money to those who get all six of their red numbers right and even smaller amounts to those who match five or more.

A worker at a Sports Lottery stand in a Shanghai mall tells Sixth Tone that the lottery’s popularity has surged over recent months, with the Year of the Rooster scratch tickets especially popular among young players. Some social media commentators have linked the lottery’s surging sales to China’s soft economic data and deepening concern about youth unemployment. ‘Young people are more likely to win 5 million yuan in the lottery than earn it through work,’ one observer noted.