The Government Lottery Office (GLO) is preparing to conduct a public hearing nationwide to assess public opinion on the online lottery project.
Earlier there were reports that online lottery tickets would end the problem of tickets changing hands, which caused inflated ticket prices, and draw people away from underground lotteries. However, the plan has seen strong resistance from ticket vendors and highly influential distributors.
The public hearing is expected to commence in January and the GLO has hired an education institution to help conduct the nationwide hearing on the project, said Phachara Anantasilp, chairman of the Government Lottery Committee.
The hearing will have clear indicators and a conclusion will be made whether an online lottery will be implemented next year, said Mr Phachara.
Some questions for the hearing include whether the surveyed people agree in principle with an online lottery and if so, what kind of format will be carried out.
The GLO continues to print physical lottery tickets as this is the main source of income for the office.
There are four types of online lotteries that will be tackled in the public hearing: two- and three-digit numbers; 12 zodiac; Lotto; and six-digit numbers.
After the public hearing is completed, a final outcome will be forwarded for cabinet consideration and a draft ministerial regulation will then be issued.
Regarding inflated lottery ticket prices, the GLO plans to solve the problem by printing more mixed numbers of lottery tickets to make it difficult for vendors to combine the numbers into sets for sale, said Mr Phachara.