Lao lottery officials rig the system to avoid large payouts, sources in the communist nation tell RFA. One example occurred on Oct. 14 this year when a winning number — 509 – vanished from purchased tickets throughout the day of the drawing, a source in Vientiane told RFA’s Lao Service. Private business interests largely manage the lottery, which includes several companies with ties to the ruling elite, the source said.

Finance Minister Bounchom Ubonpaseuth told a recent meeting of the National Assembly that illegal online lotteries based in foreign countries such as Vietnam have been sold here as often as four times a day despite Laos having its own legal lottery enterprise. He urged authorities to invest in a system that could track and regulate those selling the lotteries. Dokkeo said her first priority is to share the money with her family and she plans to use some of it to travel – “South Korea, Japan, Vietnam.” But her phone has not stopped ringing since the news broke.