Lottery officials in the communist country of Laos are rigging the system by making winning numbers disappear from purchased tickets, sources in the Southeast Asian nation tell RFA’s Lao Service. For example, the number 509 appeared only as 5 on tickets purchased throughout the day of Oct. 14’s drawing before mysteriously changing to 662 an hour before the drawing was held, a source told RFA. The office of Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith sent a directive on Aug. 17 asking the Ministry of Finance to work with the Ministry of Public Security to address the problem by reducing state lottery drawings from two times per week to one and to handle winnings more transparently, the sources said.

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Private business interests behind the national lottery include people who have connections to the ruling elite, the sources say.