Sale of lottery tickets above Bt80 to be taxed
PRASONG Poontaneat, the director-general of Revenue Department, said yesterday that the department will join hands with the Government Lottery Office to investigate lottery retailers who sell lottery tickets priced at above Bt80 and the department will co
“We will send our staff to collaborate with the Government Lottery Office staff who will survey and investigate the lottery retailers nationwide. This is a part of the measure to force retailers to do business as per the law,” he said.
He added that when they sell lottery tickets priced at more than Bt80 per ticket, they would have to pay tax on the amount exceeding Bt80. This is the way to pay back to the society.
For example, if they sell at Bt90 per ticket, then Bt10 will be assessed for income tax, he said.
Meanwhile, vendors of government lottery tickets have voiced concerns over the Bt80 ticket price controlled by the Prayut Chan-o-cha government, saying the per-ticket profit of Bt9.60 are too little for them.
When tickets were priced illegally at Bt100, or even Bt120 for much-wanted numbers, vendors enjoyed profits of Bt15 to Bt20 per ticket, said Preecha Kamongkhol, chairman of the Loei-based government lottery vendors’ network.
Preecha said he would lead a rally to call for a meeting with the Loei governor to ask for a greater quota, from 1,000 ticket booklets every 15-day draw to 1,500, to all 14,760 vendors registered with the network.
The Loei provincial authorities, like in all other provinces where the governors are instructed to take charge of the price-control policy and directly regulate quotas, allocated only 10,000 booklets to 2,000 registered vendors on June 3.
Preecha suggested that ticket price be lowered to Bt40 or Bt45 so that buyers would buy more tickets. Alternatively, the Government Lottery Office should lower the pre-sale price to vendors to Bt65, or allot direct quota to vendors instead of through agents who are influential people and have enjoyed a per-draw deduction from the ticket price for decades.
Daungta Onchaisakul, a vendor, said hawking vendors face a bigger problem with the controlled price at Bt80 compared to stall dealers, as hawking vendors also shoulder extra expenses on food and accommodation, along with extra labour roaming around to sell the tickets on foot, or on bicycle.
She said the controlled price of Bt80 had a direct impact on vendors who do it as a career.