Lottery officials in the communist nation of Laos are rigging the system, selling tickets with numbers that are likely to be deemed unlucky and preventing large pay-outs, sources have told RFA’s Lao Service. Drawings of the state lottery are often rigged, with numbers appearing and disappearing from purchased tickets throughout the day leading up to the scheduled drawing, while informal football lotteries and lottery chances sold by short messaging services are not regulated at all, they said.

The prime minister’s office sent a directive on Aug. 17 asking the Ministry of Finance, which oversees the legal state lottery, to work with police to better manage the problem. The directive called for the number of drawings to be reduced from two to one per week and for winners to be paid out in a more transparent manner.