Lottery Online

The Lao woman’s phone hasn’t stopped ringing since she won the lottery, and her plans for the prize money are clear. “First I will share my winnings with my family, and then I would devote some of the funds to travel,” she said. “I’d like to visit South Korea, Japan, Vietnam — all of them.”

But a source told RFA that officials responsible for the national lottery are rigging the system, manipulating drawings to avoid large payouts. For example, on Oct. 14 this year, the number 509 appeared on tickets sold throughout the day but was changed to 134 before the drawing took place, the source said. The business interests involved also include people with ties to the country’s ruling elite, he added.

Finance Minister Bounchom Ubonpaseuth addressed the issue during a recent session of the National Assembly. He explained that foreign countries’ lotteries – including Vietnam’s – have been sold illegally in Laos as many as four times a day, even though the country has its own legal lottery. He called on the relevant sector to invest in a system that can trace those selling illegal lotteries online, and to regulate them.