Thai Lottery Office aims to clamp down on price gougers

The Government Lottery Office is offering cash rewards for information on lottery price gouging.

Thailand.- The Government Lottery Office (GLO) is out to get lottery price speculators.

It has announced cash rewards of Bt1,000 (US$33.28) for anyone who provides information on price gouging and says it will also reward officers who make arrests.

In the latter case, the amount of the reward will depend on the fine imposed.

The measure was announced by the GLO’s CEO, Boonsong Jantrisri.

Jantrisri said: “We hope the cash reward will encourage people to become the eyes and ears for officials and consequentially stop sellers from raising the price above the legal limit.”

The GLO will also review the current penalties for increasing lottery prices as they date from a 1974 act. It wants to increase fines to create a greater deterrent for would-be offenders.

In the last four years, 22,153 lottery price gougers have been arrested in the country, including 6,047 last year.

Last year Thailand’s minister of Digital Economy and Society, Buddhipongse Punnakanta, announced that his office had shut down 1,457 websites for offering online gambling.