The Government Lottery Office (GLO) plans to provide digital lotteries to curb certain vendors selling government tickets at inflated prices.
The digital lottery option will be among measures proposed to the board of the GLO for consideration at a meeting on Thursday, said Assoc Prof Thanawat Polvichai, a member and spokesman for the board, on Tuesday. The digital lottery is another format of printed lottery tickets that will be sold via a new online platform.
The GLO also considered another three options including a lotto, pictorial lottery tickets and two-and three-digit lottery tickets, he said.
The proportion of tickets that will be printed will be decided later, he said.
"We have to admit that the online selling of government lottery tickets is gaining popularity among young people. However, this change won't impact existing registered vendors," he said.
Thailand lags behind a number of its neighbours which already offer digital lotteries, including Laos and Vietnam, he said. The board now intends to ensure more of the 80-baht lottery tickets are sold at what is supposed to be a guaranteed price but which is frequently marked up, he said.
The GLO acknowledges that many unregistered vendors who sell lottery tickets online compete to obtain physical lottery tickets from the quotas of officially licensed vendors, which drives prices beyond 80 baht, he said.
In past years, these unregistered sales accounted for between 5% and 10% of the 100 million tickets printed, while the number of lottery vendors, registered and unregistered, has doubled from about 200,000 in 2015 to 400,000 today, he said.
Losing their jobs as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, many have turned to selling tickets, he said, adding that many of these unregistered vendors usually have to buy the tickets at inflated prices.