Lao state lottery officials have been rigging the system and manipulating winning numbers in order to avoid large pay-outs, sources in the communist country tell RFA’s Lao Service. Drawings often show numbers that vanish from purchased tickets or are deemed unlucky, they say. In a particularly suspicious incident on Oct. 14, the number 509 appeared as a “random” number on ticket purchases throughout the day of that week’s drawing, but then was changed to 662 just an hour before the scheduled broadcast of the results. The office of Lao prime minister Thongloun Sisoulith sent a directive on Aug. 17 asking the ministry overseeing the legal state lottery to reduce the number of drawings from two to one a week and handle winnings more transparently, sources said.