Lottery officials in the communist country of Laos are rigging the system, manipulating winning numbers in order to avoid large pay-outs, according to sources in the Southeast Asian nation. Drawings for the national lottery, which are held three times a week, often show numbers that either vanish from purchased tickets or are deemed unlucky and are not selected. For example, the number 509 in the Oct. 14 drawing showed up as a five on only one ticket that was purchased throughout the day, while it appeared as a nine on all other tickets, a source told RFA’s Lao Service.

The winner, Cheng Saephan, is an Iu Mien, a Vietnamese ethnic group that helped American forces during the Vietnam War and later fled to Thailand before immigrating to the United States, especially in areas along the West Coast. He and his wife will split the prize, which will be paid out over 30 years. He plans to give part of it to a friend. They will buy a house and donate money to charities. The winners have not been publicly named, because Oregon law requires their identities to be kept secret unless they choose to share them.