China’s government is attempting to downplay social media rumors that lottery administrators have embezzled nearly $20b from lottery proceeds.

On Tuesday, the South China Morning Post reported on the frantic efforts by Beijing authorities to refute social media chatter that around RMB136b (US$19.5b) had been embezzled by corrupt lottery administrators. A popular meme blames this corruption for the inability of the average citizen to win a sizable lottery prize.

The meme has its origins in a video recently broadcast on state television in which four former high-ranking welfare lottery officials confessed to “systematic corruption in the lottery field.” The officials included Wang Suying (pictured), former director of the China Welfare Lottery Issuance Management Center, who was accused of “serious violations of Party discipline” in September.

Online outrage over the corruption quickly grew, with netizens convinced that the rot isn’t limited to a few top officials. This view was echoed by a Ministry of Civil Affairs official, who wryly commented that “if only several fish die in a river, it’s probably the fish’s problem, but if all the fish die in this river, it must be caused by the water.”