GLO board should resign for failing to solve lottery overpricing problem

[Lite Beer]

GLO board should resign for failing to solve lottery overpricing problem

BANGKOK: -- A people’s network for the reform of government lottery has called on the resignation of the entire board of the Government Lottery Office for its failure to keep the retail lottery price at 80 baht per ticket.

Coordinator of the network, Mr Thanakorn Komkris, charged today that the GLO had never been sincere with the consumers and had never tried to resolve the lottery overpricing problem in a straightforward and honest manner.

He cited the GLO’s announcement that only lottery tickets sold in front of the GLO office would be priced at 80 a ticket after having admitted that it could not keep the retail price of lottery for the July 1 draw at 80 baht apiece as instructed by the National Council for Peace and Order.

Although lottery tickets put on sale in front of the FLO office are priced at 80 baht apiece, lottery vendors who have no access to quota allocation will still be forced to sell the lottery at higher prices anyway because they have to buy the lottery at 80 baht apiece.

“This is not the solution of the problem but just a charade staged by the GLO,” said Mr Thanakorn, adding that he wondered why the GLO dares not touch the quota system for lottery distribution by distributing the tickets directly to the retail vendors instead of allocating most of the lottery tickets to just a handful of dealers.

He asked the NCPO not just listen to the clarification of the GLO and should be more broadminded and receptive to views of all parties concerned, including the small vendors.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/glo-board-resign-failing-solve-lottery-overpricing-problem/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=glo-board-resign-failing-solve-lottery-overpricing-problem

-- Thai PBS 2014-06-29

[Lite Beer]

Lotto Vendors Urge Junta To Reconsider Price Control

By Khaosod Eng.

PHICHIT — Lottery vendors in Phichit province are urging Thailand’s military junta to repeal its order that all lottery tickets be sold at the same flat rate of 80 baht per ticket.

The National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) ordered the flat rate to bring down the high prices of lottery tickets in Thailand, where betting in both governmental and underground lotteries is extremely popular.

The nationwide lottery price is set to take effect on the next draw of governmental lotteries on 1 July 2014.

Yet a number of lottery vendors interviewed by Khaosod in Phichit province claim the new measure will damage their livelihood. According to the vendors, they typically purchase tickets from the governmental lottery office in Bangkok at 93-94 baht per ticket, which forces them to raise the price to 100-120 baht per ticket to make a profit.

"This measure makes lottery vendors like me helpless," said one vendor, who refused to be identified by name. "There are also debts and high prices of food and goods that we have to deal with. If [NCPO] wants us to sell at 80 baht, we will be in big trouble."

"I want the NCPO to show some sympathy to us," the vendor added.

In the past few weeks, NCPO has launched a blitz of populist policies aimed at "returning happiness" to the public, including getting tough on organised crime, setting standard prices for motorcycle taxis in urban areas, and relocating parking spots for public vans in Bangkok to ease traffic congestion.

Source: http://en.khaosod.co.th/detail.php?newsid=1404030860

-- Khaosod English 2014-06-29

[kalbo123]

Weird system anyway, if consumers do not pay more for a lottery ticket then printed on the ticket the problem is solved.

Unfortunately Thais are willing to pay more for a "nice" number, whatever that may be..... 55555

Also other gamble laws should be relaxed takes the presure of this system.

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[Litlos]

The lottery is a typical inefficient system where the tickets pass through many hands before being sold. At every stage along the way there is a mark-up. So there are lots of people in the middle who add little value, but make a good living off the lottery tickets. The missing lottery tickets the other day and the calculations someone did show the skim by adding 5 Baht per ticket at 42,800 tickets was more than 5 million baht a year. This is going on all over the country and is going to be a hard one to stop. I mean would you give a 5m a year for virtually doing nothing easily?

I wish the Junta luck on finding a solution on this one. But if I have to pay 80 Baht for something then have to sell at 80 Baht not likely to happen is it. But if done properly will provide a reasonable living for people who sell the tickets.

Personally I would be talking to the mobile phone companies as well to develop an App where people can buy the their favourite 2/3 number via mobile. Once setup would be reasonably easy to administer and minimise the opportunity for money to stick to hands along the way.

Cheers