Lottery Sellers With Disabilities Worry About Online Plan

[george]

Lottery sellers with disabilities worry about online plan

BANGKOK: -- The network of people with disabilities voiced their concerns on Tuesday about the government's online lottery plan, saying it would destroy the lottery-selling system and lead Thai society astray.

At the "Online Lottery: A Danger or an Opportunity for Thai Society" seminar Tuesday.

Representatives of lottery retailers said the new system would affect their earnings and lottery quota because they would not be able to compete with big players.

Senator Monthien Boontan said the online lottery would only benefit importers of the lotteryselling machines and adversely affect 400,000 lottery retailers' earnings. He added that the government also did not have any measures to find new careers for the retailers.

The seminar was hosted at the Parliament by the Senate Committee on Social Development, Women, Youth and Elderly Affairs and the Senate Committee on Human Rights and Consumer Protection.

46 million lottery tickets, or 460,000 books, were published for each round. Each provincial governor got 162,644 books, retailers 120,374 books, charity organisations and foundations 88,650 books, the Government Lottery Office Foundation got 30,032 books, the Comptroller General's Department got 30,000 books, and 25 juridical persons got a total of 28,000 books, he said.

--The Nation 2008-07-08