GLO board puts an end lottery monopoly by the 'five tigers'

[webfact]

GLO board puts an end lottery monopoly by the “five tigers”



BANGKOK: -- The board of the Government Lottery Office decided on Tuesday not to extend the contract to grant a substantial quota of lottery tickets to the so-called “five tigers” which will put an end of decades-long monopoly of lotteries.

GLO board chairman Lt-Gen Apirat Kongsompong said that the board’s decision was meant to end the ambiguity in the distribution system of lottery tickets. It was also intended for public benefits, he added.

The “five tigers” have been granted with 79,000 books of 100 lottery tickets each for every lottery draw which takes place every fortnight. This quota allocation in favour of the “five tigers” has brought them a huge fortune and sent the price of lottery tickets above the 80-baht face value until the National Council for Peace and Order stepped in to set a new order and to peg the retail price at 80 baht/apiece.

The board also decided to scrap the special lottery quota for the GLO Foundation said to be another “sleep-eating tiger” which has benefitted from the sale of its quota of lottery tickets to wholesalers and the profits are shared among retired and active GLO employees.

Contracts between the GLO and the “five tigers” are due to expire at the end of December.

Of late, the GLO has introduced a new lottery distribution system by allowing registered retailers to book lotteries with the GLO or its authorized agents. The new system has proven to be a success with all the tickets fully booked in advance.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/glo-board-puts-an-end-lottery-monopoly-by-the-five-tigers

-- Thai PBS 2015-10-21

[Bakseeda]

It's a beginning......

[Praematura]

"Five Rivers" is something I'd expect to hear from the Chinese. Isn't the pm meeting with the "Five Rivers" next week?

[clockman]

With Bangkok having a Chinese population of 4 million. Everything is controlled by Sino Thai!

[worgeordie]

If it actually happens,and there is not a U-turn ,which happens

quite often, it will be an end to easy money for the "Tigers",

What Thailand needs are lottery machines,pick your number

pay your money,get your ticket,plus pay what is actually printed

on the ticket.

regards Worgeordie

[Thai at Heart]

Why does the phrase "Five tigers", evoque feelings of some massive stereotypical chinese/Asian mafia....

[klauskunkel]

This quota allocation in favour of the “five tigers” has brought them a huge fortune

"Mr. Chairman, be honest now, who else profited from this 'association'? It's not only the "Five Tigers" who became wealthy, don't be a chicken, tell the Thai people..."

"Ok, ok, there is a gang of "Five Chickens" within GLO, who are unusually wealthy..."

[phoenixdoglover]

The lottery is equivalent to a regressive tax, and a very poor personal investment. Yet worldwide it preys upon the human capacity for self delusion.

[waldroj]

There are plenty of other monopolies in Thailand that should also be ended.

Start with King Power!

[tuanku]

There are plenty of other monopolies in Thailand that should also be ended.

Start with King Power!

One assumes you mean the Airport vendor, not the prerogative of His Majesty....................be careful!

[Artisi]

There are plenty of other monopolies in Thailand that should also be ended.

Start with King Power!

One assumes you mean the Airport vendor, not the prerogative of His Majesty....................be careful!

Half a brain would be enough to know it has something to do with airports.

[Langsuan Man]

With all the inherent powers in Section 44 why did they have to wait for the concessions to expire in December

Congratulations to the military, they finally did one thing that they promised to do when they took control in May of 2014

[WitawatWatawit]

^^^ -- With all the inherent powers in Section 44 why did they have to wait for the concessions to expire in December .

Vendors no longer sell tickets at exorbitant prices, it's 80 baht everywhere now, ergo, no longer any avenue for the "tigers" to demand kickbacks from sellers, and their ugly profiteering is ended. They'll have to accept the norms of their contracts for the remaining months, and no new Ferraris for their 15 year old kids next year. Life is so unfair.

[cauldlad]

Two different guys were asking fo 90bt a ticket last weekend at Beach Road Pattaya. My wife asked him why should only be 80bt. He told her some "middleman" had bought thousands of tickets online and was charging the vendors the higher price!!!

I told him not my problem and sent him on his way.

I did notice both guys still had FULL trays so obviously no one was willing to pay the higher price.

[Langsuan Man]

They are crowing about ending the monopoly of the "five tigers" but forgot to mention themselves, since GLO kept and sold a certain amount of tickets for the benefit of their own employee pension scheme, who of course were also receiving a salary and covered by Thai Social Security

They only changed the distribution system when it was finally reported that GLO itself was benefiting from the wide price swings for numbers

Interestingly enough there was never an audit of GLO to determine just exactly how much they were "skimming" off the top and now that the distribution system is "clean" there never will be any report on where the money went

[Thai at Heart]

The whole issue of distributing these tickets to private vendors in bulk for resale is that it is basically facilitating domestic money laundering. Money flies in, money flies out, where did it come from where did it go? Just one massive money washing scheme with the worst return of winnings of any lottery in the world.