April 1 lottery postponed to May 2

[webfact]

April 1 lottery postponed to May 2

By THE NATION

 

 

Aiming to encourage social distancing, the Government Lottery Office has postponed the April 1 draw to May 2 and cancelled the April 16 and May 2 lotteries.

 

Chairman Phachara Anantasilp said the May 2 draw will begin as usual at 2.30pm.

 

“If the virus situation has worsened by that date, we might postpone it again.”

 

Vendors who obtained tickets in advance for April 16 – any purchased since March 20 – will get their money back via bank transfer, Phachara said.

 

“We’re also considering changing the format for ticket sales, using automatic machines or online channels instead of vendors, to reduce the physical interactions among vendors, buyers and our staff,” he said.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30384802

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2020-03-25

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[30la]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

“We’re also considering changing the format for ticket sales, using automatic machines or online channels instead of vendors, to reduce the physical interactions among vendors, buyers and our staff,” he said.

... and the exorbitant prices that sellers ask again ...

[CrunchWrapSupreme]

The mostly older ladies and guys I see carrying their briefcases full of tickets, riding the songthaews all day, hitting all the markets. Selling lottery tickets has essentially been a welfare program for them. Now stay home and do what? Oh well.

[Assurancetourix]

49 minutes ago, 30la said:

... and the exorbitant prices that sellers ask again ...

 

official price 80 baht;

really practical price 100 baht ..
Price at which they buy them from wholesalers: 60 baht;
to earn 300 baht per day they must sell 15 if they sell them at the official price, so unlikely
and 7.5 therefore 8 if they sell them at 100 baht each; something easier but certainly not achievable every day ..

 

If the government replaces these sellers with machines, it will cause tens of thousands of additional unemployed people who will certainly not vote for the military in the next election. (If any)

Edited March 25, 2020 by Assurancetourix

[natway09]

Difficult subject, they nearly went on line about 7 years ago.

In Oz the agent gets 7% less hire of his computer.

Yes, would put many breadline folks outa work which was why not activated before, ( I believe)

[natway09]

Of course, the richest man in Thailand would also get richer as I see no other distribution network capable of undertaking except 7/11

[jackdd]

25 minutes ago, Assurancetourix said:

official price 80 baht;

really practical price 100 baht ..
Price at which they buy them from wholesalers: 60 baht;
to earn 300 baht per day they must sell 15 if they sell them at the official price, so unlikely
and 7.5 therefore 8 if they sell them at 100 baht each; something easier but certainly not achievable every day ..

Your numbers are wrong.

The people who have a license and buy them from the government buy them for 70 THB. But they can return unsold tickets before the draw and have to pay only 70 THB per ticket which they actually sold.

Official selling price is 80 THB, so the shop earns 10 THB per ticket, usually not difficult to find such a shop.

 

The people who sell the tickets walking arround and ask for 100 THB are paying 90 THB for them. These people don't have a license to buy tickets from the government, so they have to buy the tickets from other people who have a license.

You might now wonder why would they pay 90 THB if everybody can buy them at shops for 80 THB. The reason is, that they can return their unsold tickets and only have to pay for the tickets which they sold.

 

[kickstart]

Tucksin tried to get the lottery to go on line and gave up ,to much to many people against it ,and that included selling just the 2 and 3 numbers it went on for 2-3 months before he gave up .

One problem was people did not like the machines ,older people could not use them ,standing in front of a machine and not being able to use it ,instant loss of face ,or doing it wrong and losing they money .

It come up again  a couple of years ago , but fell though ,if they think they can get a system up and running in a few weeks ,they are thinking wrong .

But, if they do it will be here to stay ,and these yong fit ticket sellers will have to get a proper job.

They should be an exception for blind and handicapped sellers ,often they only income .

And I only brought my ticket yesterday  80 baht  from my usual guy outside 7-11 .

[curtklay]

OH NO!

The lottery has been postponed??

Now we REALLY have a disaster!!

[lamyai3]

I saw about this extraordinary and unprecedented postponement in all the news headlines earlier. 

 

Oh, hang on - I might be mixing it up with the Olympics... 

[Orton Rd]

I'm thinking of getting number 19 next time!

[Solinvictus]

4 minutes ago, Orton Rd said:

I'm thinking of getting number 19 next time!

I bought numbers ending with 19 and then the next day I lost of course but the new confirmed cases were 177. The lottery ended or began with 77.

[baansgr]

2 hours ago, jackdd said:

Your numbers are wrong.

The people who have a license and buy them from the government buy them for 70 THB. But they can return unsold tickets before the draw and have to pay only 70 THB per ticket which they actually sold.

Official selling price is 80 THB, so the shop earns 10 THB per ticket, usually not difficult to find such a shop.

 

The people who sell the tickets walking arround and ask for 100 THB are paying 90 THB for them. These people don't have a license to buy tickets from the government, so they have to buy the tickets from other people who have a license.

You might now wonder why would they pay 90 THB if everybody can buy them at shops for 80 THB. The reason is, that they can return their unsold tickets and only have to pay for the tickets which they sold.

 

So when pushed to sell at 80 BAHT and many do when you ask....they are selling at a 10 BAHT loss?

[jackdd]

5 minutes ago, baansgr said:

So when pushed to sell at 80 BAHT and many do when you ask....they are selling at a 10 BAHT loss?

In my experience they don't lower their prices. My sample size is not the biggest (my girlfriend does sometimes buy a ticket), but i've tried negotiating the price down and different people in different places never gave a discount. After never getting a discount i asked two different sellers on two different occasions (without any interest in buying a ticket, just chatted them up outside 7/11) as to how this works with them selling the lottery tickets. Both times i was told what i wrote above, that they don't have a license and have to pay 90 THB per ticket which they sell, so i think this is true.

If you do manage to buy them for 80 THB, then probably either this person has a license, or is just a family member of somebody with a license, so no 20THB comission for the person with the license.

[Lingba]

5 hours ago, Assurancetourix said:

 

official price 80 baht;

really practical price 100 baht ..
Price at which they buy them from wholesalers: 60 baht;
to earn 300 baht per day they must sell 15 if they sell them at the official price, so unlikely
and 7.5 therefore 8 if they sell them at 100 baht each; something easier but certainly not achievable every day ..

 

If the government replaces these sellers with machines, it will cause tens of thousands of additional unemployed people who will certainly not vote for the military in the next election. (If any)

won't matter if they don't vote for the military..the military will win regardless

[cyril sneer]

9 hours ago, curtklay said:

OH NO!

The lottery has been postponed??

Now we REALLY have a disaster!!

jokes aside they will see it this way

[cyril sneer]

i'd be very surprised if this was postponed for a lengthy period of time, it's effectively cancelling tax money until up and running again

[Moonlover]

12 hours ago, 30la said:

... and the exorbitant prices that sellers ask again ...

No one forces you to pay.

[Moonlover]

9 hours ago, curtklay said:

OH NO!

The lottery has been postponed??

Now we REALLY have a disaster!!

Not really. Trade in the unofficial village lotteries will be booming. Thais are very enterprising when it comes to keeping their traditional habits alive. And 'having a flutter' is certainly one of them.

[hotchilli]

16 hours ago, webfact said:

“We’re also considering changing the format for ticket sales, using automatic machines or online channels instead of vendors, to reduce the physical interactions among vendors, buyers and our staff,” he said.

That's going to make a few thousand ticket sellers panic

[taiping]

So how do I get back the 80 baht I paid for a ticket for the 1 April draw? Bank transfer?

[worgeordie]

Thai's are now going to realise just how dangerous  the virus is,

Lottery postponed ......now it's getting serious.

regards Worgeordie

[jackdd]

5 minutes ago, taiping said:

So how do I get back the 80 baht I paid for a ticket for the 1 April draw? Bank transfer?

Why would you get money back? It has just been postponed, not cancelled.

[Burma Bill]

Along with the vendors, so will "fortune tellers" become redundant!

[Daffy D]

Yea! I bought a ticket for the 1st April draw 

 

Will that ticket be accepted for when the lottery starts again 

 

Just my luck, one of the few times I buy a ticket, not only do I not win,  the whole lottery is cancelled 

 

[Kerryd]

With my luck, they will cancel the tickets for the 1 April draw (to avoid confusion) and on 2 May my number will be drawn.

If I didn't have bad luck, I'd have no luck at all !

[evadgib]

22 hours ago, webfact said:

Vendors who obtained tickets in advance for April 16 – any purchased since March 20 – will get their money back via bank transfer

How exactly does that work?

My wife heard yesterday that 16 Apr tickets would carry into the next draw which would seem far easier. The bank transfer (according to her) is for vendors returning their stock.

Edited March 26, 2020 by evadgib

[remobb]

Can anyone clarify the situation regarding what happens to tickets that have been bought? If vendors are to get refunds then does that mean buyers tickets are no longer valid. Why cancel / postpone? Surely the draw could still go on without an audience. Anyway what happens to my tickets for the 1st April (yes I am a fool)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

?

[Kerryd]

Sigh.
The 1 April draw will happen on 2 May. What is hard to understand about that ?

The 16 April and (normal) 2 May draws are cancelled. Pretty simple. No tickets have been sold (to CUSTOMERS) for those draws anyways. They note though that the 1 April draw (which will happen on 2 May - all going well) MAY BE POSTPONED again, depending on conditions. 

 

VENDORS, who have already paid for tickets for the 16 April draw, will get their money back. NO tickets should have been sold (to anyone) for the 16 April draw anyways. Probably haven't even been printed yet.

It seems that the (licensed - legal) vendors are able to purchase blocks of tickets almost a month in advance of a draw, which is why they say "any purchased since March 20".
It sounds like they pay in advance for blocks of tickets, which are delivered (2 weeks or so) before the draw date.

Makes sense in a way as that allows the government to figure out how many tickets to print for each draw well in advance. Be a big waste to print up 50 million tickets for a draw and then only sell 30 million.

As for machine dispensers, not really that complicated. In the US and Canada they've been using machine ticket dispensers for decades. Almost every convenience store and gas station in the country has a machine, which can print tickets for a number of different lotteries.
Customers can submit their own ticket numbers by filling in a blank, machine readable form or let the system pick random numbers for them (a "Quick Pick" or "Qik Pik" or some other name).
They can also register online with the Lottery Organization and pay for subscriptions so that their favourite numbers are in every draw (for as long as their subscription is paid). 

An advantage with the machine dispensers is that they only print tickets when a customer buys one. As well, the one machine can be used for many different lotteries. Also, if a customer wants more than one set of numbers, they can all be printed on the same ticket.

So lets say you go into the (wherever) and tell the clerk you'd like a "Quick Pick" on the next 6/49 Lottery draw. They punch a couple buttons on the dispenser and it prints out a ticket with a set of random numbers (6 two digit numbers ranging from 00-49 in this case). You pay the clerk for 1 "ticket".

Then I go to the same clerk and hand him/her the form I've filled in with the specific numbers I want to play. In my case, I've selected 5 sets of 6 numbers. The clerk feeds the form into the machine, punches a couple of buttons and it spits out a ticket with all 5 sets of numbers on it (instead of 5 individual tickets). I pay the clerk for "5" tickets but all 5 sets of numbers are printed on a single slip of paper.

The guy behind me also wants to buy 5 "tickets" for the draw but doesn't care what the numbers are so the clerk punches a couple of buttons and the dispenser spits out a ticket with 5 randomly generated "Quick Pick" numbers on it.
Same guy then asks for 5 "tickets" on the Provincial Lottery draw and 5 more on the next Keno draw. Clerk punches a couple different buttons and the same dispenser spits out a couple more tickets (1 slip for each different lottery). He then pays the clerk for 15 "tickets" and gets 3 slips of paper (1 for each different lottery) with 5 sets of numbers on each.

Really not that difficult.

Another advantage to the dispensers is that they can be controlled by the Lottery organization so, for example, if they decide that ticket sales for a draw should stop 15 minutes before the draw - they can program the system so that it won't sell any more tickets after the set time (but will still be able to sell tickets for future draws).

The system has built in protections to prevent abuse (like some clerk trying to print off 10,000 tickets without paying for them) and if they catch someone trying to scam the system they can easily simply void all the suspect tickets.

The system works quite well in the US (with lotteries like the PowerBall and various State lotteries) and Canada (with the 6/49 and many other lotteries). 

The biggest problem in Thailand would be making sure that the people running the show do it honestly.
Which is probably why it isn't going to happen here anytime soon.

[evadgib]

42 minutes ago, Kerryd said:

Sigh.
The 1 April draw will happen on 2 May. What is hard to understand about that ?

The 16 April and (normal) 2 May draws are cancelled. Pretty simple. No tickets have been sold (to CUSTOMERS) for those draws anyways. They note though that the 1 April draw (which will happen on 2 May - all going well) MAY BE POSTPONED again, depending on conditions. 

 

VENDORS, who have already paid for tickets for the 16 April draw, will get their money back. NO tickets should have been sold (to anyone) for the 16 April draw anyways. Probably haven't even been printed yet.

It seems that the (licensed - legal) vendors are able to purchase blocks of tickets almost a month in advance of a draw, which is why they say "any purchased since March 20".
It sounds like they pay in advance for blocks of tickets, which are delivered (2 weeks or so) before the draw date.

Makes sense in a way as that allows the government to figure out how many tickets to print for each draw well in advance. Be a big waste to print up 50 million tickets for a draw and then only sell 30 million.

As for machine dispensers, not really that complicated. In the US and Canada they've been using machine ticket dispensers for decades. Almost every convenience store and gas station in the country has a machine, which can print tickets for a number of different lotteries.
Customers can submit their own ticket numbers by filling in a blank, machine readable form or let the system pick random numbers for them (a "Quick Pick" or "Qik Pik" or some other name).
They can also register online with the Lottery Organization and pay for subscriptions so that their favourite numbers are in every draw (for as long as their subscription is paid). 

An advantage with the machine dispensers is that they only print tickets when a customer buys one. As well, the one machine can be used for many different lotteries. Also, if a customer wants more than one set of numbers, they can all be printed on the same ticket.

So lets say you go into the (wherever) and tell the clerk you'd like a "Quick Pick" on the next 6/49 Lottery draw. They punch a couple buttons on the dispenser and it prints out a ticket with a set of random numbers (6 two digit numbers ranging from 00-49 in this case). You pay the clerk for 1 "ticket".

Then I go to the same clerk and hand him/her the form I've filled in with the specific numbers I want to play. In my case, I've selected 5 sets of 6 numbers. The clerk feeds the form into the machine, punches a couple of buttons and it spits out a ticket with all 5 sets of numbers on it (instead of 5 individual tickets). I pay the clerk for "5" tickets but all 5 sets of numbers are printed on a single slip of paper.

The guy behind me also wants to buy 5 "tickets" for the draw but doesn't care what the numbers are so the clerk punches a couple of buttons and the dispenser spits out a ticket with 5 randomly generated "Quick Pick" numbers on it.
Same guy then asks for 5 "tickets" on the Provincial Lottery draw and 5 more on the next Keno draw. Clerk punches a couple different buttons and the same dispenser spits out a couple more tickets (1 slip for each different lottery). He then pays the clerk for 15 "tickets" and gets 3 slips of paper (1 for each different lottery) with 5 sets of numbers on each.

Really not that difficult.

Another advantage to the dispensers is that they can be controlled by the Lottery organization so, for example, if they decide that ticket sales for a draw should stop 15 minutes before the draw - they can program the system so that it won't sell any more tickets after the set time (but will still be able to sell tickets for future draws).

The system has built in protections to prevent abuse (like some clerk trying to print off 10,000 tickets without paying for them) and if they catch someone trying to scam the system they can easily simply void all the suspect tickets.

The system works quite well in the US (with lotteries like the PowerBall and various State lotteries) and Canada (with the 6/49 and many other lotteries). 

The biggest problem in Thailand would be making sure that the people running the show do it honestly.
Which is probably why it isn't going to happen here anytime soon.

Blimey, Anyone would think you're sat at home all day with nothing better to do ????

 

(I have never understood why non resident Brits cannot participate in their domestic lottery via their home accounts but I guess that's a separate topic. FoI requests drew a blank some years ago..)

Edited March 27, 2020 by evadgib