Summons out for three big lottery agents
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THE REVENUE Department yesterday summoned three big lottery vendors for disclosure of their financial information and tax-payment records within seven days.
The department issued the summons after the Government Lottery Office named these three operators for scrutiny. They have been granted lottery-ticket quotas by the GLO for a long time.
Prasong Poontaneat, Revenue Depart-ment director-general, said it had asked the three vendors to clarify their financial statements and show evidence of tax payment within seven days after the invitation.
The department will compare their tax payments to their income, the number of lottery-ticket quotas and discounts, he said. If their income was higher than the discounts, that would indicate overpriced tickets, and the income in excess of the price cap of Bt80 a pair would be taxed.
“All three vendors are required to show their bank statements or other routes of their income. The lottery distributors can authorise representatives to deal with this matter,” Prasong said.
An anonymous source from the Revenue Department said big lottery vendors received a quota of about 1.6 million pairs each from the GLO and most of them booked their records accurately. Inspection must be made of other assets such as real estate.
According to the GLO, the three big vendors in question were among the “five tigers” group that has reportedly dominated the sale of lottery tickets. The three are Ms Sarian Assawa-wutthipong, Yardnam-peth and Salak Mahalarp.
Large brokers that have been given lottery-ticket quotas by the GLO for long periods reportedly bought lottery tickets from other distributors including charity organisations and associations, which also received a ticket-quota allotment of no fewer than 1 million pairs each.
Other distributors reportedly deducted Bt1.60 a pair. When brokers resold them to smaller distributors at Bt80 a pair, these brokers would earn a profit of Bt5.60 a pair.
