Thai Government plans digital shift for lottery sales
The Government Lottery Office (GLO), under the umbrella of the Finance Ministry, unveiled plans to transition from traditional lottery stalls to digital ones. Lavaron Sangsnit, the permanent finance secretary and chairman of the GLO board, revealed this strategy, which will be initiated from next month.
The GLO has been selling digital lottery tickets through the Pao Tang app since 2022 as a part of an effort to combat the issue of ticket sales exceeding the standard price of 80 baht each. The intention is to allow small vendors to sell digital lottery tickets using iPads or mobile devices in the future.
Just as with physical lottery tickets, buyers will retain the ability to select their preferred numbers. At this time, the office offers both digital and physical lottery tickets.
Approximately 80 million tickets are sold via general vendors, with an additional 22 million sold through the Pao Tang app, culminating in a total of 102 million tickets. The GLO has plans to slowly elevate the number of digital lottery tickets sold, to minimise the impact on street vendors who predominantly sell physical tickets.
By February, the office aims to increase the number of digital lottery tickets to 23 million, with a further rise to between 25 and 30 million projected by the end of the year, reflecting public demand. There are also plans afoot to introduce three-digit lottery tickets to challenge the underground lottery, with a release expected mid-year.
Last year, digital lottery ticket sales reached 466 million, generating 37.3 billion baht. A total of 1.27 million digital tickets won cash prizes, amassing 22.3 billion baht. One fortunate lottery participant had 22 winning tickets for a first prize, accumulating winnings of 132 million baht. The provinces reporting the highest number of lottery winners were Bangkok, Nonthaburi, and Samut Prakan, reported Bangkok Post.
In related news, a story that may show a benefit to this system is that last month in December, a Thai woman was looking for her four lost lottery tickets that won the 24 million baht jackpot in October. She asked the Government Lottery Office (GLO) to investigate because she wrote her name and phone number on the back of the tickets.
