The winner of the $1.3 billion lottery prize in Oregon has revealed his or her identity. Cheng Saephan, a 44-year-old immigrant from Laos, is part of the ethnic group known as Iu Mien who aided American forces during the Vietnam war and fled to the West Coast to avoid retribution. The Portland area is home to a large Iu Mien community with a Buddhist temple, a Baptist church and social organizations as well as businesses. Saephan said he plans to share half of the prize with his wife and friend, who bought the tickets together. He will also give some to family members and local charities.

Despite the fact that it is illegal to sell lottery tickets in public, many people still try their luck selling them on the streets. This woman in the city of Luang Prabang, Laos, sells tickets at the edge of a pedestrian walkway. Her unique selling point is that she doesn’t use a booth or a sign but stands on the sidewalk in a skirt, making it easy for her to blend in with her customers.

In a country where the state-run lottery is widely considered corrupt, officials in the communist nation are rigging the system, sources tell RFA’s Lao Service. Drawings for the national lottery show numbers that disappear from purchased tickets or are deemed unlucky and unlikely to win, they say. For example, on Oct. 14 this year, the winning number 509 appeared only as a five on the tickets sold during the day of the drawing, despite large crowds of Lao buyers seeking to purchase tickets with that number.