Thailand’s N3 lottery might be scrapped due to poor sales

Photo courtesy of Bangkok Post

By Puntid Tantivangphaisal

The Finance Ministry is evaluating the future of the N3 lottery due to its lacklustre public response since its introduction last November.

Deputy Finance Minister Julapun Amornvivat announced yesterday, January 7, that the three-digit lottery (N3), designed to rival illegal lotteries and expensive six-digit tickets (L6), has not met expectations during its trial phase.

Introduced on November 1 as part of a six-month sandbox programme, the N3 lottery offers tickets priced at 20 baht through 800 authorised sellers across the country. The programme aimed to provide a legal alternative and reduce underground lottery sales by 10 to 20% each year.

Despite these efforts, sales have significantly underperformed, with only 1.17 million tickets sold last month out of the 5 million available per draw.

Critics have pointed out that the N3 lottery does not adequately tackle issues such as the dominance of middlemen in the L6 market and systemic inefficiencies in the distribution system.

Julapun stated that a comprehensive evaluation of the N3 lottery’s impact will be conducted after the sandbox phase concludes in April. If performance continues to fall short of expectations, the government may consider cancelling the initiative, reported Bangkok Post.