80-baht price control takes toll on small Thai lottery vendors

[webfact]

80-baht price control takes toll on small lottery vendors



BANGKOK: -- The 80-baht lottery price control now under nationwide campaign is now affecting small lottery vendors who said they have to give up business as they will not make any profit to sell at the price.

They said they still have to buy lottery tickets from lottery agents or wholesalers at high price to resell.

This was what ThaiPBS found after interviewing lottery vendors in Chonburi province.

The survey revealed more than 30% of lottery vendors in Chonburi have suspended selling due to loss if they have to sell under the government-controlled 80-baht price.

A vendor Sunthorn Patamma, a resident from Loei province, whom came to sell lottery in Chonburi said after the price control became effective, his colleagues who came from Loei to sell lottery here have given up their jobs and returned homes as they could hardly make end meet for selling at 80 baht.

Another female vendor said she came with her husband from Loei to sell lottery in Chonburi, but now could not make profit because her cost was 7,400 baht for a book of 100 lottery tickets.

She said if she could del out one book, she would get 8,000 baht.

In all, she and her husbands had been allocated 10 books which if all were sold out, they would get only 6,000 baht profit.

After cutting all expenditures, they could hardly afford their family, she said.

The National Reform Council’s lottery reform committee has recently studied lottery business and found that the Government Lottery Bureau has issued a total of 74 million lottery books for allocation.

But 75% of lottery are in the hands of major and small dealers before distributing them further to lottery vendors, thus forcing prices of lottery being marked up at each step before reaching the hands of vendors.

In Chonburi, there are about 200 lottery vendors who have registered with provincial authorities. Now more than 30% of vendors have halted their business and returned homes as they said it was not worth investment.

Most wanted to see price control from the original source, and restructuring of lottery quota. They said what remained unsolved was that dealers who receive lottery quotas do not sell lotteries directly to the people.

They wanted to see that lottery quotas be fairly allocated to the real sellers or vendors and which could solve overpricing at the right point.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/80-baht-price-control-takes-toll-on-small-lottery-vendors


-- Thai PBS 2015-06-12

[colinanderson1978uk]

I don't understand these people, 6,000 baht profit isn't enough, the lottery is not supposed to be a primary source of income.

Really they don't like it is because they can't scam us now!

If they don't like it, go home there will be someone else to replace them.

Edited June 12, 2015 by colinanderson1978uk

[steven100]

It's the law .... if it's not enough then they'll have to think of another scam .....

[Pimay1]

Does anyone know the cost of the books to the lottery agents or wholesalers?

[ldiablo]

@colin. Your comment shows just how stupid you are. How long do you think it would take a person to sell 1000 lottery tickets to make a profit of 6000B. Sounds like a full time job to me. And for some of these poor individuals the selling of lottery tickets is their only means of getting any form of income for many various reasons none of which I will bother wasting my time explaining to Mr. Braindead.

[colinanderson1978uk]

@colin. Your comment shows just how stupid you are. How long do you think it would take a person to sell 1000 lottery tickets to make a profit of 6000B. Sounds like a full time job to me. And for some of these poor individuals the selling of lottery tickets is their only means of getting any form of income for many various reasons none of which I will bother wasting my time explaining to Mr. Braindead.

I made a constructive valid point, 6,000baht is a good wage especially for someone from the provinces. Its a job an uneducated person can do they have not studied for a university degree and probably not even finished high school so again 6,000 baht is a good wage, If you don't like it so be it, but no need to call me Stupid, because that I am not.

Edited June 12, 2015 by colinanderson1978uk

[LennyW]

"But 75% of lottery are in the hands of major and small dealers before distributing them further to lottery vendors, thus forcing prices of lottery being marked up at each step before reaching the hands of vendors."

And there lies the crux of the problem!!.

[JOC]

It's the law .... if it's not enough then they'll have to think of another scam .....

Again amazed by the empathy and solidarity from the posters here for the the small people.........

No wonder, that Mr P and his elite-protecting-system have so many supporters here!!

But remember: A society is judged by how it treats its weakest members!!

[LennyW]

@colin. Your comment shows just how stupid you are. How long do you think it would take a person to sell 1000 lottery tickets to make a profit of 6000B. Sounds like a full time job to me. And for some of these poor individuals the selling of lottery tickets is their only means of getting any form of income for many various reasons none of which I will bother wasting my time explaining to Mr. Braindead.

I made a constructive valid point, 6,000baht is a good wage especially for someone from the provinces. If you don't like it so be it, but no need to call me Stupid, because that I am not.

It would actually be 12 thousand as the lottery is twice a month.

[casualbiker]

Why do they travel from their homes to a completely different province to sell tickets!

But certainly the "profit margin" for the sellers is ridiculous compared to the outlay!

Edited June 12, 2015 by casualbiker

[LennyW]

Why do they travel from their homes to a completely different province to sell tickets!

But certainly the "profit margin" for the sellers is ridiculous compared to the outlay

Density of population i would imagine.

[smutcakes]

The street vendors should just jack it in and let the corporate hi so fat cats behind these big distributors walk the streets themselves.....

I dont understand the nuances behind this, but from a simplistic view it seems that the big retailers are keeping a good margin and when the NCPO force the little people to sell at 80 baht, there is simply no margin left anymore.

Seems that the little people are getting shafted again. Would be interested to see the names behind and bidding process of the companies that won the concessions for the lottery distribution..... no doubt it would make interesting reading....

[ldiablo]

@colin. Your post was not constructive but leans more towards the bashing of poor Thai people trying to get by on a mediocre income.

[colinanderson1978uk]

@colin. Your post was not constructive but leans more towards the bashing of poor Thai people trying to get by on a mediocre income.

I wondered how long it would take you to say I was Thai bashing, because you can't say anything else.

Where in my post am i defaming Thai people?

[ratcatcher]

The street vendors should just jack it in and let the corporate hi so fat cats behind these big distributors walk the streets themselves.....

I dont understand the nuances behind this, but from a simplistic view it seems that the big retailers are keeping a good margin and when the NCPO force the little people to sell at 80 baht, there is simply no margin left anymore.

Seems that the little people are getting shafted again. Would be interested to see the names behind and bidding process of the companies that won the concessions for the lottery distribution..... no doubt it would make interesting reading....

Good post smutcakes.

Why can the lottery ticket sellers get the tickets direct from the lottery office? Is it really necessary for the middlemen, agents or whatever, to be involved marking the tickets up so much that the seller hardly makes a small profit to live on?

Just like the rice deal, the farmers and lottery vendors are at the end of the food chain. Once again the little man and woman lose.

Check that out please P.M.P..

[BritTim]

Does anyone know the cost of the books to the lottery agents or wholesalers?

The price to registered retail agents is 70.40 baht per retail agent, and they each get an allocation of 500 tickets per drawing.

Certain organizations receive tickets at a special price of 68.80 baht per ticket. It is unclear how many tickets they receive or how they dispose of them.

[casualbiker]

Does anyone know the cost of the books to the lottery agents or wholesalers?

The price to registered retail agents is 70.40 baht per retail agent, and they each get an allocation of 500 tickets per drawing.

Certain organizations receive tickets at a special price of 68.80 baht per ticket. It is unclear how many tickets they receive or how they dispose of them.

And unsold tickets cannot be returned (which is stupid)

[smutcakes]

Does anyone know the cost of the books to the lottery agents or wholesalers?

The price to registered retail agents is 70.40 baht per retail agent, and they each get an allocation of 500 tickets per drawing.

Certain organizations receive tickets at a special price of 68.80 baht per ticket. It is unclear how many tickets they receive or how they dispose of them.

If registered retail agents can only get 500 tickets, it certainly means some are taking a large amount of the 74 million printed!!!

Is there an open audit of the GLO knocking around by any chance, so it is possible to see where all this money is going..........

[smutcakes]

Does anyone know the cost of the books to the lottery agents or wholesalers?

The price to registered retail agents is 70.40 baht per retail agent, and they each get an allocation of 500 tickets per drawing.

Certain organizations receive tickets at a special price of 68.80 baht per ticket. It is unclear how many tickets they receive or how they dispose of them.

And unsold tickets cannot be returned (which is stupid)

Its not that stupid that they cannot be returned...... I cannot imagine what someone in Thailand would do with an unsold ticket which has been returned or waiting to be returned... whether it be the little fella, the distributor or someone at the printing office... they sure as hell would not hand it in saying it was unsold!

[casualbiker]

Does anyone know the cost of the books to the lottery agents or wholesalers?

The price to registered retail agents is 70.40 baht per retail agent, and they each get an allocation of 500 tickets per drawing.

Certain organizations receive tickets at a special price of 68.80 baht per ticket. It is unclear how many tickets they receive or how they dispose of them.

And unsold tickets cannot be returned (which is stupid)

Its not that stupid that they cannot be returned...... I cannot imagine what someone in Thailand would do with an unsold ticket which has been returned or waiting to be returned... whether it be the little fella, the distributor or someone at the printing office... they sure as hell would not hand it in saying it was unsold!

Returned AFTER the draw..it was my understanding that they were dated. No?

[JAG]

An open audit? if I may quote the late lamented Peter Sellers of Goon Show fame, "you poor deluded boy you".

Incidentally, some may recall Sellers had his first heart attack shortly after marrying Britt Eckland. He britt off more than he could screw!

[h90]

@colin. Your comment shows just how stupid you are. How long do you think it would take a person to sell 1000 lottery tickets to make a profit of 6000B. Sounds like a full time job to me. And for some of these poor individuals the selling of lottery tickets is their only means of getting any form of income for many various reasons none of which I will bother wasting my time explaining to Mr. Braindead.

So in your logic without lottery thousands of people would starve to dead, because they have no other means of living???

No they would have to do something more hard:

Work on the rice field

Motorbike taxi

sell vegetables on the market

etc etc

[Valentine]

@colin. Your comment shows just how stupid you are. How long do you think it would take a person to sell 1000 lottery tickets to make a profit of 6000B. Sounds like a full time job to me. And for some of these poor individuals the selling of lottery tickets is their only means of getting any form of income for many various reasons none of which I will bother wasting my time explaining to Mr. Braindead.

I made a constructive valid point, 6,000baht is a good wage especially for someone from the provinces. Its a job an uneducated person can do they have not studied for a university degree and probably not even finished high school so again 6,000 baht is a good wage, If you don't like it so be it, but no need to call me Stupid, because that I am not.

You might not be stupid but you are very cynical & quite ignorant of the day to day expenses the average person faces.

The actual system of how the tickets are distributed is what needs changing. The GLO make huge profits so why can't they have regional offices throughout the country whereby the employees of the GLO distribute the tickets at 70,4 Baht directly to the street vendors. The G in GLO stands for government so actually they are employed by the taxpayers. There are far too many middlemen in all affairs here, milking the country dry for very little work just because they have connections.

[clockman]

The lottery is totaly corrupt. They should look how other countrys have there lottery. Remember also every village has an illeagal lottery! Pure Thainess

[phoenixdoglover]

So, after a certain percentage of the street level vendors give up selling lottery tickets due to the lower profits, and some of them do not get any better jobs, and the unemployment rate rises a bit, and the overall sales of lottery tickets declines a bit, and the government lottery revenue declines...

Who will be blamed?

[MiclB]

TV members are generally an intelligent lot with a wide background of experience in various fields. In a thread like this one we naturally tend to want to "fix" the problem.

But just one question: Does anyone think that a senior official, with loads of staff support to research and investigate, is truly incapable of realizing what the crux of this problem is? Hell no, the truth is that there is too much graft and corruption in the program for them to want it solved.

And so it goes.

[JOC]

So, after a certain percentage of the street level vendors give up selling lottery tickets due to the lower profits, and some of them do not get any better jobs, and the unemployment rate rises a bit, and the overall sales of lottery tickets declines a bit, and the government lottery revenue declines...

Who will be blamed?

Thaksin or Islam ??.................

[BritTim]

So, after a certain percentage of the street level vendors give up selling lottery tickets due to the lower profits, and some of them do not get any better jobs, and the unemployment rate rises a bit, and the overall sales of lottery tickets declines a bit, and the government lottery revenue declines...

Who will be blamed?

In most cases, those deluded souls who think lottery tickets are a good investment will continue to buy them from the remaining vendors. In fact, since the price is lower, they will probably tend to buy more tickets. What the remaining vendors lose in margin they will make up for in volume.

From the viewpoint of society in general, having fewer vendors selling the same or greater number of tickets is nothing to get too upset about.

[berybert]

@colin. Your comment shows just how stupid you are. How long do you think it would take a person to sell 1000 lottery tickets to make a profit of 6000B. Sounds like a full time job to me. And for some of these poor individuals the selling of lottery tickets is their only means of getting any form of income for many various reasons none of which I will bother wasting my time explaining to Mr. Braindead.

I made a constructive valid point, 6,000baht is a good wage especially for someone from the provinces. If you don't like it so be it, but no need to call me Stupid, because that I am not.

It would actually be 12 thousand as the lottery is twice a month.

It would be 12,000 a month if they sold them all. I expect many don't.

Would you expect to buy a sandwich or a drink in a shop for the price the shop paid for it ? or do you agree it is ok for a shop to make some profit to allow it to continue trading. Yet people are against some poor sole who has to spend 12-14 hours a day trudging the streets to try to make a few baht.

[bangkoklasse]

If they live in Loei (that's close to Laos) and go all the way to Chonburi just to sell lottery tickets. Then there must be some profit for them. I don't belive they only make 6 baht in profit for each ticket they sell.......