GLO announces bounty to nail lottery price gougers

By THE NATION

 

 

The Government Lottery Office (GLO) has come out with a Bt1,000 cash reward for citizens who provide information on lottery price gouging, while officials who make arrests will be rewarded according to the fine in each case but not exceeding Bt2,000, director-general Boonsong Jantrisri said on Wednesday.

 

“We hope the cash reward will encourage people to become the eyes and ears for officials and consequentially stop sellers from raising the price above the legal limit,” he said.

 

The GLO is also revising the penalty for lottery price gouging, which had been stipulated in the Government Lottery Office Act of 1974 and states that offenders will face Bt2,000 in fines.

 

“We aim to increase the fine to Bt10,000 to discourage would-be offenders,” Boonsong said.

 

He added that in the past four year (2017-2020), 22,153 lottery price gougers were arrested nationwide – 2,339 in 2017, 6,240 in 2018, 7,527 in 2019 and 6,047 last year.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30402218

 

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2021-02-04

 

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If they had a better distribution system, instead of selling the majority of tickets to rich Mr Bigs, who sell them on to the poor sellers, leaving a very small margin for profit for the small sellers, it could solve a lot of the problems. 

It might have helped if they had stated what the legal prices are meant to be!

1 hour ago, webfact said:

22,153 lottery price gougers were arrested nationwide – 2,339 in 2017, 6,240 in 2018, 7,527 in 2019 and 6,047

Are these the lucky numbers for the next lottery?

The small ticket vendors make almost no money.....100 baht a ticket should be the correct price.......

3 hours ago, fangless said:

It might have helped if they had stated what the legal prices are meant to be!

The legal price is printed on each ticket and is 80 Baht for a pair of two.

also here creating a "snitch-society"! 

if those officials did their job right there would not be any price-difference...

As with most things here absolutely pointless if there is no effective Police enforcement and realistic penalties..

 

There is NO active enforcement in almost anything! Hence the pleae for the public to help. But will they follow up ? As there is a "payoff" it might work,

"officials who make arrests will be rewarded according to the fine in each case but not exceeding Bt2,000,"

 

For doing their damn job !!! You couldnt make this stuff up ...555

"

 

 

You just wonder why they don’t set it up online . Is it distrust of those running it or is it the putting sellers out of work ? 

Why do they need reports, I'm in Pattaya and I have seen ฿80 price once in 3 years.

8 hours ago, Thaiwrath said:

If they had a better distribution system, instead of selling the majority of tickets to rich Mr Bigs, who sell them on to the poor sellers, leaving a very small margin for profit for the small sellers, it could solve a lot of the problems. 

But but but but... there's got to be middlemen !!!

Wasn't it one of PM P's promises to rein it in?

6 hours ago, redwood1 said:

The small ticket vendors make almost no money.....100 baht a ticket should be the correct price.......

It is around here. Sorry, it is the normal price around here that the wife happily pays (maybe she has too much money)

The correct price is 80 baht per ticket and when I lived in Thailand (pre Covid-19), were readily available at that price at most large supermarkets such as Tesco (where I used to buy mine), BigC  and MAKRO. Living out in the sticks, for me the better value was the illegal "village" lottery based on the winning numbers of the legal lottery. It offered "odds" on how much you paid, from 1 baht upwards (50 baht for me) per number selection. I have won two 30,000 baht "prizes" and several smaller, but substantial, amounts during my time and far more than I did on the legal lottery. In the village we could also bet on the Singapore lottery. 

5 hours ago, condobrit001 said:

The legal price is printed on each ticket and is 80 Baht for a pair of two.

I guess you haven't bought a ticket in awhile. They have not been in pairs for over a year now. Single ticket, 6 million baht first prize. You can buy multiple tickets. A "pair" of tickets would win 12 million and usually cost 200 baht.

9 minutes ago, Burma Bill said:

The correct price is 80 baht per ticket and when I lived in Thailand (pre Covid-19), were readily available at that price at most large supermarkets such as Tesco (where I used to buy mine), BigC  and MAKRO. Living out in the sticks, for me the better value was the illegal "village" lottery based on the winning numbers of the legal lottery. It offered "odds" on how much you paid, from 1 baht upwards (50 baht for me) per number selection. I have won two 30,000 baht "prizes" and several smaller, but substantial, amounts during my time and far more than I did on the legal lottery. In the village we could also bet on the Singapore lottery. 

That's not just a village thing, very easy to find someone to take your numbers in Bangkok. A lot of people buy a ticket or two for the official lottery but put a whole lot more on the underground version. 90 baht's the best price around here but everyone knows the vendors aren't price-gouging. 

Just now, KhaoNiaw said:

That's not just a village thing, very easy to find someone to take your numbers in Bangkok. A lot of people buy a ticket or two for the official lottery but put a whole lot more on the underground version. 90 baht's the best price around here (single ticket) but everyone knows the vendors aren't price-gouging. 

 

In case somebody doesn't understand how this works, because the OP is as always quite lacking:

If somebody wants to sell lottery tickets they have to get a license from the government. These licenses are limited and difficult to get. (I'm not certain about this, but would suspect that they are sold on for quite significant amounts of money, from old seller to new seller, same as motorbike taxi licenses)

When somebody has such a license he can buy the tickets for about 70THB (which he pays to the government), and is allowed to sell them on for 80THB (the official price), unsold tickets can be returned before the deadline and they pay only for sold tickets.

To increase their income they find "employees" who run around selling tickets. But in this case the license holder demands to get 90THB per ticket sold from his "employee", because he is greedy and wants to make extra profit. Thus the "employee" tries to sell the tickets for 100THB, so he earns 10THB per ticket, and the license holder earns about 20THB per ticket sold by his "employee".

Instead of targeting the license holders (often wealthy people, made from exploiting people who have not much choice) who are breaking the law by sending out people to sell tickets for 100THB, the Thai government picks on the easy target, the "employee" who makes 10THB for a 100THB sale. If he wouldn't be selling tickets he would often sit on the street begging, or maybe collecting empty bottles.

1 hour ago, Burma Bill said:

Living out in the sticks, for me the better value was the illegal "village" lottery based on the winning numbers of the legal lottery. It offered "odds" on how much you paid, from 1 baht upwards (50 baht for me) per number selection. I have won two 30,000 baht "prizes" and several smaller, but substantial, amounts during my time and far more than I did on the legal lottery. In the village we could also bet on the Singapore lottery. 

have you really been paid off before? I always thought this black lottery was a complete scam. I can not imagine a "village-kingpin" handing out the lottery prize in cash to a farang.

22 hours ago, fangless said:

It might have helped if they had stated what the legal prices are meant to be!

80 baht.

15 hours ago, ronaldo0 said:

You just wonder why they don’t set it up online . Is it distrust of those running it or is it the putting sellers out of work ? 

If it was totally online the avenue for corruption and employment would be gone... that's not the Thai way.

16 hours ago, jackinthebox said:

have you really been paid off before? I always thought this black lottery was a complete scam. I can not imagine a "village-kingpin" handing out the lottery prize in cash to a farang.

Yes, always got my winnings in cash, never a problem and not a scam. One of my 30,000 baht wins was in 20,50,100 and 500 baht notes handed to me in a plastic bag. The local "kingpin" was a family member!!

21 hours ago, DefaultName said:

Why do they need reports, I'm in Pattaya and I have seen ฿80 price once in 3 years.

Out side,  side entrance to Big-C Sukhumvit  Jomtiem  ( car park area) 80 baht

Chaiyaphruek  2,  Jomtiem  right hand side, just after market, but before railway line, road side seller.

Some times, Lotus  Sukhumvit, Jomtien,  just inside right hand entrance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

19 hours ago, Dazinoz said:

I guess you haven't bought a ticket in awhile. They have not been in pairs for over a year now. Single ticket, 6 million baht first prize. You can buy multiple tickets. A "pair" of tickets would win 12 million and usually cost 200 baht.

I don't know what planet you live on, but Thai lottery tockets are sold in pairs (40 Bhat X 2 = 80 Bhat).

20 minutes ago, condobrit001 said:

I don't know what planet you live on, but Thai lottery tockets are sold in pairs (40 Bhat X 2 = 80 Bhat).

They stopped selling them in the way you describe quite a few years ago.

33 minutes ago, condobrit001 said:

I don't know what planet you live on, but Thai lottery tockets are sold in pairs (40 Bhat X 2 = 80 Bhat).

1 for 80 baht here in Chiang Mai (A different planet) at many vendors and has been for sometime.

39 minutes ago, condobrit001 said:

I don't know what planet you live on, but Thai lottery tockets are sold in pairs (40 Bhat X 2 = 80 Bhat).

You are the one on a different planet. How about checking your facts before accusing someone else of being on another planet. At least 2 people have said same thing.

4 minutes ago, Thailand said:

1 for 80 baht here in Chiang Mai (A different planet) at many vendors and has been for sometime.

Same planet as far as lottery tickets are sold. Its condobrit001 who is on the different planet. Maybe his village still sells in pairs and wonders why he doesn't win.

2 minutes ago, Dazinoz said:

 

 

50 minutes ago, condobrit001 said:

I don't know what planet you live on, but Thai lottery tockets are sold in pairs (40 Bhat X 2 = 80 Bhat).

I suggest you do some homework, they have officially been 80 Baht per ticket for many years, I don't begrudge giving a poor ticket seller 100 Baht.