Thai GLO adds two million extra tickets amid new digital lottery demand

Thai GLO
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The Government Lottery Office (GLO) is set to add an extra two million tickets to its new digital lottery due to popular demand, according to the Bangkok Post.

The local news outlet reports all 5.1 million tickets distributed through the Paotang app for the July 16 draw had sold out in just over a day.

According to Lawaron Saengsanit, Director General of the Revenue Department and Chairman of the GLO board, this is the fastest sale yet since the launch of the digital distribution system last month.

The GLO began selling digital lottery tickets on June 2 at the retail price of 80 baht each, and it was initially stated by Charnkrit Dejvitak, an assistant to the Prime Minister’s Office, that more assessments would be required before the lottery quota allocated to the mobile app could be increased.

Last month, Thai officials held talks over ways in which to increase the number of government e-lottery tickets sold via the Paotang app.

All assessments appear to be concluded now, with the GLO prepared to sanction the addition of two million more tickets to take the number over seven million.

“The latest sales were faster than expected and reflect the demand for lottery tickets that are sold for 80 baht a piece,” said Saengsanit.

He further added that the total number of buyers recorded in the first and second sales was 1.5million and one million respectively, while the number of buyers recorded for the latest draw was about 908,000.

Furthermore, a new evaluation will be conducted later to determine the demand for these digitally formatted lottery tickets after more tickets are added.

Should demand further intensify, between one and two million more tickets will be added for the following draws.

However, Saengsanit emphasised the importance of ensuring that there is a fair balance maintained between the number of lottery tickets distributed the conventional way – through licensed lottery vendors – and those sold via the mobile app.

Professor Thanawat Polvichai, member of the GLO board, explained that paper ticket sales are unlikely to be impacted much by extra online ticket sales.