Lottery Office Cracks Down On ‘dubious’ Activities Of Agents

[george]

Lottery office cracks down on ‘dubious’ activities of agents

BANGKOK: -- The Government Lottery Office (GLO) is launching random checks today among its agents to find out whether they have properly reported the sales of two- and three-digit lotteries.

The move follows an agent’s failure to report the sale of a batch of lottery tickets, one of which hit the Bt19-million jackpot in the February 1 draw.

“Follow our guidelines and procedures or you will face punishment. We have the means to keep you in check,” GLO director Pol Maj-General Surasit Sangkhapong said yesterday as he warned all lottery agents to toe the line.

He said the GLO would review sales records and randomly demand to see tickets listed as unsold by the agents.

As the lottery office took its tough stance, profits from yesterdays draw soared to more than Bt1 billion, the biggest sum since the government launched the two- and three digit lotteries. Surasit said the GLO would pursue the harshest actions against offending agents.

Pichai Suwanprapaporn has already been removed as a GLO-authorised agent after failing to report sales of many tickets. His practices came to light only after a man was initially denied his Bt19-million jackpot earlier this month, despite holding the winning ticket. At that time, the GLO had not received a report from Pichai that the ticket had been sold.

Following an investigation, the GLO finally awarded the jackpot to the buyer but began questioning the honesty of Pichai’s sales practices. Officials claim that Pichai deliberately chose not to report the sales so that he could pocket the full income. If he had reported the sales, he would have received only a commission.

However, by not reporting sales, he shouldered the risk of having to provide some prizes for those who happened to win. The risks were therefore only manageable if the buyers didn’t hit big prizes.

The GLO has lodged a complaint with police against Pichai for acting as a lottery operator without a licence, and Surasit said a Bt19-million lawsuit would also be filed against him.

Pichai turned himself in to police yesterday to hear the charge, but refused to testify.

In a related development, the lottery ticket that hit yesterday’s Bt19-million jackpot was reported to have been sold in Chiang Rai.

--The Nation 2006-02-17

[astral]

A simple Sale or Return procedure should suffice................

If tickets are not returned the Agent is liable for the full cost.

If an agent chooses to keep the unsold tickets in the hope that they will win,

(I wonder what the odds are??) then he pays for them.

No need to make a mountain out of a molehill.

Edited February 17, 2006 by astral