Lottery ticket buyers in US profit from Chinese customers

Scores of overseas purchasing agents, buying lottery tickets on behalf of Chinese people in Asia, made money as a lottery frenzy recently swept the United States and the globe.

The ticket-buying agents, mostly Chinese living in the US, helped people in China buy tickets for the record-high multistate Powerball lottery jackpot in the US. In addition to making a small profit on each ticket, they get a share of any prize won.

Lottery tickets ordinarily cost $2 each, but the agents would mark them up anywhere from a few cents to more than double.