Lottery officials in the communist country of Laos are rigging the system, manipulating winning numbers to avoid large pay-outs, sources in the Southeast Asian nation say. The national lottery draws three times a week, but winning numbers often vanish from purchased tickets or are deemed unlucky and unlikely to be chosen, the sources say. For example, the number 509 appeared only as a 5 on tickets sold throughout the day of the Oct. 14 drawing after a large number of people sought to buy tickets including the “random number,” a source told RFA’s Lao Service on condition of anonymity. “Private business interests should not be responsible for the national lottery, because the drawings can’t be trusted,” he said.

Hundreds of millions of dollars are being awarded to a Laotian immigrant living in Portland, Oregon. Forty-six-year-old Cheng Saephan and his wife Duanpen won the Powerball jackpot in March. The couple, who are members of the Iu Mien ethnic group, will take half the prize money and give the other half to a friend.

The winner is a member of one of the thousands of families that fled Laos and other Southeast Asian countries in the aftermath of the Vietnam War and settled in the United States. Many in the community have opened restaurants, churches and social organizations.