The Government Lottery Office (GLO) is offering a reward of 1,000 baht for information leading to the arrest and conviction of vendors selling overpriced lottery tickets.
Each person who gives information leading to an arrest will be paid 1,000 baht per case when the case is finalised, while an arresting officer will be eligible for a reward equivalent to the fine imposed but no more than 2,000 baht per case.
The reward scheme was published in the Royal Gazette on Friday.
It has sparked an outcry from some lottery vendors who claim they purchase lottery tickets at 85 baht apiece, which makes it impossible for them to sell at the ticket face value of 80 baht.
They said the GLO needs to revise the way the tickets are allocated.
Solving the problem of overpriced lottery tickets was one of the first challenges Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha took on after he staged the coup in May 2014. It was seen as a quick-win move that would “return happiness to the people”, as the army had been promising.
Gen Prayut appointed Gen Apirat Kongsompong as the GLO chairman and a semblance of normality returned to lottery ticket pricing for a few months. But before long, the Byzantine network of agents and wholesalers began to assert itself and tickets priced above face value returned.
A Bangkok Post staffer who visited Yaowarat this week reported seeing one vendor openly advertising 10 tickets for 1,000 baht and 15 tickets for 1,650 baht.
Gen Apirat, now the army chief, stepped down from the GLO last month to join the Senate.