Gambling on lottery ban

The government was heavily criticised yesterday for its decision to consider scrapping the electronic online lottery - and concessionaire Loxley is studying a "legal position" over any decision.

"It is not yet final or certain the online lottery project will be abolished," said Treejak Tansupasiri, CEO of Loxley GTech Technology. "We will only wait and see. But whatever will be, will be. Society will make its decision on whether it will need an online lottery," he said.

"As the vendor who has invested in this project [we cannot say] if a lawsuit will be lodged against the government if it decides to abolish the project, but Loxley's legal division is studying legal options over the issue," Treejak said.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said yesterday he would set up a panel to study options so that the government could annul the electronic lottery vending project.

The working panel would be headed by the chairman of the Thai Trade Representative, Kiart Sithiamorn, to study legal aspects and negotiate with the contractor . The study and negotiations would be completed within 30 days after the panel was set up, he said.

Abhisit said the law did not permit an online lottery project, but the government remained bound by the contract. So the Kiart panel would work to find out the best alternative for the government.

Personally, he believed the project would have many drawbacks and he would like to cancel it.

Government Lottery Office director Wanchai Surakul declined to comment over the matter, saying  a GLO meeting on January 13 would discuss the issue and work out subsequent measures. "We still have time to deal with the matter, for it to be solved within 90 days after the GLO board decided on December 4 to go ahead."

 Prime Minister Abhisit expressed concern the online lottery project would have had "negative social impacts and he would want to avoid carrying out the project if he could."

Asked to define setbacks of the lottery project online, he said illegal gambling was now spreading widely and preventing Thai youth from getting involved with it was difficult. He also cited research which said allowing online lottery operations would not tackle problems regarding the underground lottery.

Asked about the longstanding sales of lottery tickets at inflated prices with buyers' consent, Abhisit said the problem was being dealt with. "The options are that buyers don't buy potential or popular numbers - or draw dates are not fixed," he said.

Loxley has invested billions of baht in the project, which is known widely as online lottery. Under this project, punters could buy tickets at whatever numbers of their choice through vending machines with an online realtime database. They could keep receipts as evidence in case they won prizes in each draw.

Thawatchai Sathitwitthaya, chairman of Ticket Lottery Vendors' Association, said he was shocked by Abhisit's decision to possibly abolish the online lottery project. He said Abhisit should have brought up the issue three or six months ago, not in a few months before the first online lottery operation was due in March. His group would take action after a meeting this month.

Worrawut Kamolwitthayanont, chairman of an umbrella group of vendors of the nowdefunct two and threedigit lottery operation, said a large number of his group had threatened to join an antigovernment rally planned by the red shirts in February if the online lottery project was scrapped.

The opposition Pheu Thai Party criticised Abhisit's move, saying his Democrat Party wanted to erase memories among people at grassroots level fond of the two and threedigit lottery operation initiated by former prime minister and archrival Thaksin Shinawatra.

Pheu Thai MP Surapong Towijakchaikul, chairman of the House committee on finance and banking, said the abolishing of the online lottery operation would please operators of illicit underground lotteries which despised Thaksin and the Pheu Thai Party for inventing the two and threedigit lottery operation. The prices of lottery tickets would continue to be inflated, while funding would be lost for education of poor children mobilised through the sales of the two and threedigit lottery operation.

In addition, the government would be up for huge compensation and a fine demanded by Loxley if it scrapped the project and lost a subsequent lawsuit.

Ood Khiewthong, chairman of the Blind People's Association in Chiang Mai, hailed Abhisit for his decision, saying that blind lottery vendors would lose their living because punters would buy lotteries from vending machines rather from them, unless Abhisit could finally put off or scrap the online lottery project.