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Published on November 29, 2007

 Hours after the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) passed the Government Lottery Office Bill into law yesterday, a small group of NLA members demanded the Constitution Court interpret the new law before it is enacted.

If enacted, the new law would revive the government's two- and three-digit lottery operations.

"This bill has many things that run counter to the Constitution," NLA member Prasong Soonsiri said.

He said, for example, that Sections 75, 78, 79 and 84(2) of the Constitution required that the government uphold morality and virtue, as well as promote the sufficiency economy philosophy, but the bill was clearly intended otherwise.

"Through this bill, the government will seduce people and reap benefits from them," Prasong said.

According to Prasong, 30 NLA members have already signed the petition and submitted it to NLA Speaker Meechai Ruchuphan asking that he forward the bill to the Constitution Court for a ruling on its constitutionality.

They include Oud Buangbon, Panthep Puwanartnurak, Chamlong Srimuang, Wallop Tangkananurak, Sopon Suphapong, Bannawit Kengrian and Pitipong Puengboon na Ayutthaya.

Earlier in the day, the NLA voted 83 to 26 to pass the Government Lottery Office Bill, with three abstentions. During the session, Prasong and some NLA members attacked the bill for endorsing a form of gambling that will only lead people to destruction.

Panthep dismissed a suggestion that the government's two and three-digit lotteries would tackle the spread of the underground lottery.

"Whether the underground lottery can exist is up to the sincerity of officials in carrying out a crackdown," Panthep said.

Sopon Suphapong was concerned that the new lottery conditions would attract new lottery buyers including children as young as kindergarteners.

"If enacted, this bill will allow lottery vending machines to blossom across the country," Sopon said.

While the bill was generating heated debate in the NLA, a group of disabled people rallied in front of the Parliament House to show their opposition to the bill.

"The bill, with the government's two- and three-digit lotteries and lottery vending machines, will destroy the livelihood of people with disabilities," protest leader Somchai Panya-ekwong said.

He said hundreds of disabled people earned a living by selling the government's six-digit lotteries, which would decline in popularity if vending machines and the two-and three-digit lotteries came into operation.

Near their rally were some 50 supporters of the Government Lottery Office Bill.

Upon hearing that the NLA had passed the bill, the supporters cheered with joy while its opponents complained loudly. They briefly exchanged harsh words but there were no violent incidents.

Somchai said his network would convene a meeting to decide their next move, which should become clear after December 5.

Meanwhile, the People Power Party (PPP) hailed the NLA's green light for the Government Lottery Office as a good development for its election campaign. The PPP is widely seen as the new base of ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra's Thai Rak Thai Party, which was dissolved earlier this year.

"This is proof that the previous administration did the right thing," PPP spokesman Kuthep Saikrajang said.

Soon after the Surayud Chulanont-led government came to power last year, it revoked the government's two- and three-digit lottery operation on the grounds that they were illegal.

In a bid to legalise the operation, the government embarked on a plan to pass the Government Lottery Bill at the same time as the Assets Examination Committee (AEC) was accusing the Thaksin-led cabinet of illegality.

 The Nation