BANGKOK, 17 July 2014, -The President of the Lottery Board has announced that the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) will not renew the 43 million retail lottery ticket quota, saying the move is aimed at addressing the overpriced lottery tickets issue.
Mr. Somchai Sajjapong, the Customs Department Director General and President of the Lottery Board, told the media that the Deputy Chief of the NCPO’s Economic Affairs section, Gen. Chatchai Sarikanya, had signed an agreement not to renew the expired lottery retail contracts for 43 million tickets. The move is the next step in reorganizing the lottery retailing regulations after the enforcement of retailing at the minimum price.
A new allotment of tickets will be allocated to the new and existing retailers as of August 16th.
According to the Director General of the Customs Department, the allocation accounted for more than half of the nation’s lottery retailers, expressing his belief that the move would fairly and evenly distribute the tickets among the vendors. After this initiative, another reallocation would take place of the 72 million ticket quota that expires at the end of 2014 and in the middle of 2015 as well as for those previously allocated to various foundations, and major private companies, Mr. Somchai said.
The President of the Lottery Board also said that he would propose that the NCPO amend the lottery law to restructure the revenue proportions, citing the present 28% of lottery income that is returned as state income, the 60% which makes up the lottery rewards, and 12% of the lottery income that covers management expenses.
He pointed out that the restructuring may lead to new ticket pricing which could be in the range of 80-100 baht per ticket.
