Lottery officials in Laos are rigging the national lottery, causing numbers to disappear from purchased tickets and making the drawing unreliable, sources tell RFA’s Lao Service. Private business interests that are responsible for the lottery reportedly pay annual concession fees to the government, but no one is told what those amounts are or who oversees them. For example, the winning number 509 from a drawing on Oct. 14 this year appeared as only a 5 on ticket purchases throughout the day, but then mysteriously became 09 before the drawing took place. The government should resume full control of the lottery, a caller says.