Blind lottery vendors call on PM to rein in middlemen
Ten blind lottery vendors rallied in front of Government House Monday to demand the prime minister to handle the problem of overpriced lottery tickets.
The blind vendors blamed middlemen or major concessionaires of the Government Lottery Office (GlO) for overcharging them and thus causing them to retail tickets at a pair of Bt110 to Bt120 instead of the face value of Bt80.
The vendors were led by Thanom Srinaka, the chairman of the Blind Beggars Association of Thailand.
They rallied in front of a Government House gate on Phitsanulok Road.
Thanom said he wondered whether the middlemen overcharged the retailers, causing the cost to be high and thus prompting retailers to sell the tickets at Bt110 or Bt120.
Thanom said although the blind lottery vendors got some quota directly from the GLO, the prices were still high, and they got only Bt1 profit from each ticket.
Thanom said the prime minister should order the GLO to restructure its ticket distribution system so that the lottery tickets could be distributed to low-income vendors instead of being monopolized by a few concessionaires.
Thanom said his association has been seeking help from the government since the term of the Chuan Leekpai government but none of previous prime ministers could help them.
“But now, I am confident that PM Yingluck will be able solve our problems,” Thanom said.
