Consumers and merchandisers who take part in the planned e-payment system will be eligible to a monthly lucky draw offering cash prizes worth 7 million baht through their bills and tax invoices.
The lottery was agreed on Wednesday at a meeting of a Finance Ministry committee tasked with creating incentives to attract people to the national e-payment scheme which will be opened to registration on July 15.
Finance Minister Apisak Tantivorawong said the monthly draw would be held for a year, starting in January. Of the 7 million baht in prizes offered each month, 5.5 million baht will be presented to lucky consumers and the remaining 1.5 million to those running businesses that install electronic data capture (EDC) machines.
The biggest prize for buyers is worth up to 1 million baht.
Mr Apisak explained that people would not have to send in their bills or tax invoices for the e-payment lucky draws as winners would be randomly selected. The cash prizes will be transferred to their bank accounts via the e-payment system once they show the winning bill and tax invoice to officials.
The e-payment scheme is designed to transform Thailand from a cash-based society to a cashless one. It will also help the government to stem tax avoidance and provide direct subsidies to low earners and elderly people.
It is estimated the e-payment system will help save costs of 70 billion baht a year in printing and transporting banknotes and cheques.