Lottery officials in the communist country of Laos are rigging the system and manipulating winning numbers to avoid large pay-outs, sources tell RFA’s Lao Service. Drawings have often shown numbers that aren’t on purchased tickets or that have been deemed unlucky, for example, number 509 which appeared only on Oct. 14 tickets but was suddenly removed from the list just hours before the actual drawing. In addition, Lao state lottery drawings have been manipulated to hide the existence of informal football and lottery chances sold by short messaging services that are akin to private lotteries.

The office of prime minister Thongloun Sisoulith has sent a directive requesting the Ministry of Finance, which oversees the legal state lottery, to work with the Ministry of Public Security to better manage the problem, sources said. The directive also calls for the number of state lottery draws to be reduced from two per week to one and that winners be handled in a more transparent manner.

The results of this evening’s Phattana lottery draw can be viewed on the Laolottery Live Facebook page at 8:00 PM. The results will show the outcomes of the 6 numbered Pattana lottery and the 4/40 and 5/45 Tham Fun lottery draws.