THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
nationthailand

Heated exchanges as vendors buy lottery tickets

Heated exchanges as vendors buy lottery tickets

There was chaos and almost violence as retail vendors queued to buy lottery tickets yesterday in southern province Trang.

A source said the first person who queued at ATMs near the Siriban Shopping Centre in Muang district used several ATM cards to buy tickets for himself and his relatives, which resulted in him taking longer than normal to complete the purchases.
Some vendors complained for fear the tickets would run out, resulting in a heated argument and dares to file a police complaint. 
Meanwhile, retail vendors in Buri Ram and neighbouring provinces such as Surin and Mahasarakram had since Wednesday night camped in front of ATMs across Buri Ram’s Muang district to improve their chances of getting tickets.
Vendors Yong Kloomya and Kiattisak Kongprakon said they went home empty-handed the last time tickets were offered despite waiting in queue, so this time they camped overnight. 
If they couldn’t get tickets again, they would buy them from middlemen at Bt78 or Bt79 per apiece and re-sell to customers for Bt80. 
Yong and Kiattisak called on the government to allocate tickets to registered vendors so that they did not have to camp overnight.
A similar scene was seen in Udon Thani province, where many vendors including disabled people set up tents around ATMs ahead of buying tickets.
While queuing in Loei’s Muang district, Khrueawan Lasa said she wanted the government to clearly survey the exact number of lottery retail vendors and register them for ticket allocations at a fixed time and fixed dates. 
She said people who reserved tickets were not real vendors and officials served as middlemen in the sale of those tickets.
RELATED
nationthailand