Lao state lottery officials are rigging the system to avoid large pay-outs for winning numbers, sources in the communist nation tell RFA’s Lao Service. Private business interests have a stake in the lottery’s work and have been able to manipulate results, with numbers that appear on purchased tickets mysteriously vanishing before a drawing, the sources say. They also have been able to manipulate access to certain numbers, such as 09, which is considered unlucky in Laos. On Aug. 17, the office of Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith sent a directive to the Ministry of Finance, which oversees the country’s legal state lottery, to reduce the number of drawings from two to one a week and handle winnings in a more transparent manner. Reported and translated for RFA’s Lao Service by Ounkeo Souksavanh and Bounchanh Mouangkham.