When the winning numbers were announced, Dokkeo received a stream of calls and text messages from friends, family, and strangers who wanted to help her celebrate. She said she would share the money with her family first, before putting some toward buying a new house and traveling. “South Korea, Vietnam, Japan—anywhere I can get to,” she said.

Lao lottery sales have been a source of revenue for the government, but authorities in charge have also struggled to address illegal lotteries that lure people into habitual gambling. Officials say it’s difficult to regulate the illegal practice because it takes place online.

After public complaints that the state lottery enterprise was enticing people into habitual gambling, it recently reduced the number of lotteries to two per week and ended the scratch lottery. Sources in Laos tell RFA that private business interests with a stake in the lottery manipulate results by denying access to certain numbers, or changing them before a drawing.