Ministry launches lucky draw campaign aimed at increasing use of debit cards
The Finance Ministry on Tuesday launched a promotional campaign to encourage people to use less cash and switch to debit cards, in a major step aimed at driving national e-payments policy, permanent secretary Somchai Sujjpongse said.
The campaign, under which prizes will be randomly given to lucky debit-card users, is the second move to promote national e-payments policy, the first being the electronic data-capture (EDC) system for machines installed at retail outlets nationwide in March.
Through the new campaign, consumers will be encouraged to use debit cards more and more.
At the same time, shops – especially small ones – will be encouraged and inspired to install EDC machines, he said, adding that such concerted efforts would eventually change people’s payment behaviour, leading to extensive use of electronic payments nationwide.
The first of the lucky draws will take place next month, with those having made payments via debit cards in May being eligible to participate.
Prizes will be delivered every month for 12 months, with a total prize value of Bt84 million during the period, Somchai said.
To be eligible for the lucky draw, consumers must pay for goods and/or services through debit cards issued by Thai financial institutions – not including e-commerce and bank transfers – while shops with no more than Bt500 million in annual revenue that have installed or upgraded their EDC machines as authorised by the government are also eligible to receive prizes, he explained.
The latter excludes government organisations and state enterprises.
Each month, the winner among the top spenders will win Bt1 million, while lucky winners in the second category will receive prizes ranging from Bt2,000 to Bt100,000 each.
The ministry expects 1,001 customers to receive prizes worth a total of Bt5.6 million per month under the programme.
Participating shops will have the opportunity to win a grand prize worth Bt1 million and between five and 30 prizes of Bt30,000 each per month.
Lucky winners will be announced on the 16th of the month, with the first announcement scheduled for June 16.
The winners list will be announced through various media and on www.epayment.go.th, while each winner will be notified by the commercial bank that issues their debit card.
Any cardholders or stores that do not want to join the campaign can inform their banks to remove their names from the participants list, Somchai said.
In the future, these companies and individuals will however be able to rejoin the campaign by simply informing their respective banks of their decision to do so.
