The Government Lottery Office (GLO) will begin offering tickets through the Pao Tang mobile application at 80 baht each in a bid to keep the price of lottery tickets down, the Minister of the Prime Minister's Office Anucha Nakasai announced on Sunday.
The remarks were made as a follow-up to the government's crackdown on the online lottery vendors "Blue Dragon Lottery" and "Kong Salak Plus", which were suspected of selling tickets at inflated prices.
Mr Anucha, who leads a government committee investigating the overpricing of lottery tickets, said people who want to buy tickets for the June 16 draw will be able to buy tickets through the app soon. He did not say when the tickets for that draw will be offered.
He said by using the application, not only will consumers be able to buy tickets at the official retail price of 80 baht apiece, they can also opt for a cashless payment to make the purchase.
The application, which was developed by Krung Thai Bank, is also securely encrypted, requiring users to key in a personal code before a transaction can go through. According to the developers, the app has over 40 million users.
In addition, he said, not only will the platform record each individuals' purchase history, it will notify a ticket holder if their numbers are drawn.
To help bring down the average price of lottery tickets, the government will also consider setting up official stalls in every district in each province.
Authorities will also review over 9,000 contracts with lottery agents nationwide and crack down on those found to be selling tickets at irregular prices, he said.
The committee, Mr Anucha said, will propose a number of recommendations directly to the cabinet.
