Officials meet this week to discuss the longstanding issue of exorbitant government lottery tickets.
Seksakol Atthawong, an assistant minister at the Prime Minister’s Office, said officials will form a subcommittee to collect information on the issue.
Seksakol, who is also the deputy chairperson of the committee tasked with resolving the issue, noted that this week’s meeting will discuss factors contributing to ticket prices exceeding the 80-baht-per-ticket limit.
He acknowledged that middlemen play a significant role in pushing ticket prices above the government-mandated price cap. Each ticket costs 70 baht and 40 satangs at the Government Lottery Office.
However, intermediaries who purchase the tickets in bulk offer them to major distributors at a rate of 80 baht each, while minor retailers sell them for 100 to 120 baht per ticket.
According to the assistant minister, the issue can be resolved by supervising the vending process. He added that the 10,000 baht fine for vendors selling overpriced tickets is inadequate for deterring repeat offenses.
He also talked about integrating application such as “Tung Ngen” or other related financial apps to be available for those vendors who are interested in selling lottery to be able to directly order the tickets from the government.
