Bets off over lottery scam

The government is getting tough over the longstanding problem of overpriced lottery tickets. Most customers have forgotten when they last bought a government lottery ticket for the stated price of Bt80.

For the past several years, millions of Thais have had to pay an unofficial surcharge for our fortnightly flutter. As a result, an estimated Bt10 billion per year has been going into the pockets of profiteers.

The authorities’ failure to enforce the stated price is partly to blame for the overpricing problem, but the Government Lottery Office (GLO) system for distributing the tickets exacerbates the problem. The GLO disburses them by quota to official distributors, with the remainder sold directly to small-time vendors. The 10 largest distributors are allocated 22.7 million lottery tickets, or 30.7 per cent of the total 74 million issued for each prize draw.

The system is efficient, ensuring that all GLO-issued tickets are sold ahead of the prize draws on the first and 16th day of every month. But it is unfair to small-scale vendors and to buyers. Many of the tickets are passed through a hierarchy of distributors until sold on to small-time vendors at more than their face value. This explains why lottery tickets normally retail for between Bt90 and Bt110 – and even higher for numbers considered more desirable.  

Despite an order issued by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha that offenders be slapped with a one-month jail term and a fine of up to Bt10,000, vendors continue to display prices of Bt100 and more per ticket. (Authorities have allowed some leeway by announcing they won’t start enforcing 

the order until the end of this month.)

On May 1 Prayut ordered that the GLO’s executive board be dismissed for having failed to solve the overpricing problem. The following day he appointed Maj-General Apirach Kongsompong, deputy commander of the First Army Area, as the new chairman of the board.

We have yet to see whether the tough penalties and actions of the new board will help solve the overpricing problem.

Opening new channels for the sale of lottery tickets should also help. Adding lottery vending machines and more outlets would provide easier access for buyers and the ability to choose their desired numbers. Critics of this idea warn that it only encourages gambling, but we doubt the number of lottery hopefuls would rise significantly. Among those who oppose lottery vending machines and more outlets are underground lottery operators and corrupt officials, who know they stand to lose from any changes to the current system of distribution.

But that change must come if we are to prevent lottery profiteering. If we can engineer less demand for particular numbers and a more efficient system of lottery vending, overpricing will end.

However, to achieve that goal, the authorities involved need to show far more determination and decisiveness than they have so far, overcoming the vested interests and crony business practices that have held sway for so long.