Published on December 02, 2005

Some 1,000 blind people will converge on the Social Welfare Council today to demand a larger share of the profits from the government lottery tickets they sell.

The vendors currently receive a 10-per-cent share of the profits, which they claim is insufficient to meet their needs. They want the figure to be raised to 17 per cent.

The protest will be led by three representatives of The Association of the Blind: president Monthian Boontan, spokesman Tawpong Selanon, and coordinator Somchai Ban-ekwong.

“The [government’s] measure of regulating retail prices for lottery ticket has led to hardship for all blind people,” Monthian said, adding that the government’s policy of selling lottery tickets online was also killing traditional methods.

He said that the move would lead to the elimination of the grass-roots sellers of government lottery tickets.

The demonstration, he said, was an attempt to get a sincere response from the government. During its election campaign of five years ago the government promised to include a number of blind people on the government lottery board, he said.

The group called on lottery ticket sellers who are suffering due to the government’s lottery policies to gather at the parking lot of the Social Welfare Council at 6am today.

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