Lottery prices creeping upwards: Military crackdown

09 พฤศจิกายน 2559

1,500 vendors arrested for selling tickets for over 80 baht. Military & plainclothes police to monitor lottery ticket sales.

LOTTERY

Lottery prices creeping upwards: Military crackdown

8/11/2016
Wichit Chantanusornsiri

Officials arrested 1,500 vendors for overcharging over the official controlled price of 80 baht during crackdowns on Oct 30-31 this year.

Plainclothes police and military officials will be sent to monitor major lottery markets to ensure that lottery tickets are sold at no more than 80 baht a pair as prices have begun to increase again.

Police monitor lottery tickets.

SOLVING THE PROBLEM OF OVERPRICED LOTTERY TICKETS

Overpriced lottery tickets has been a perennial problem in Thailand and one of great public concern.

The junta made it one of its priorities after it took power in 2014.

To solve the problem, military and police officials will be sent to man stalls at major retail sites such as Khok Wua intersection in Bangkok and Sanambin Nam in Nonthaburi province.

Joint forces are also planning a crackdown on underground lottery rings.

In addition, contract terms with lottery ticket suppliers will be reduced to six months.

A clause added to their contracts so that they may lose their quota of lottery tickets if they overcharge.

NO MORE REGROUPING LOTTERY TICKETS

Forces are also being prepared to tackle so-called lottery rematch operations.

These business operators take tickets with the same digits from different ticket series and re- group them to be sold in sets for a higher price to people who believe that they boost their luck.

The practice was outlawed because it increased demand for certain lottery numbers and therefore their increased their prices above the official legal price of 80 baht also.

Another measure is to change the time lottery tickets are sent to middlemen to make it impossible for them to rematch them in sets.

NO MORE PAIRS OF LOTTERY TICKETS

As well, the GLO is planning to change the way tickets are sold.

Currently, tickets are sold in a pair with the same lottery number for 80 baht a pair.

Each ticket has the face value of 40 baht but in practice nobody buys them separately so the double ticket no longer makes sense.

To reduce costs, the GLO plans to replace the pair of tickets with a single ticket costing 80 baht.

The change won't affect buyers in any way.

The number of issued 40 baht pair tickets will be the same as the single 80 baht tickets at 60 million.

Read about the life of a small-time lottery ticket seller here.