Laos lottery officials are rigging the system to avoid large payouts, with numbers mysteriously appearing and disappearing from purchased tickets during drawings, sources tell RFA’s Lao Service. Private business interests with a stake in the national lottery concession have connections to government leaders, the sources say. For example, on Oct. 14, the winning number of 134 vanished from ticket purchases purchased throughout the day of the drawing but reappeared on tickets sold only 10 minutes before the drawing itself.

Lao deputy finance minister and state lottery supervisor Sila Viengkeo says a directive issued by prime minister Thongloun Sisoulith on Aug. 17 requires state lottery concessionaires to handle lottery operations more transparently.