Three-digit lottery tickets coming this month

The Government Lottery Office (GLO) plans to issue three-digit lottery tickets this month to tackle the twin issues of overpricing and black-market tickets, board member Thanavath Phonvichai said on Wednesday.
The goal is to have a solution for Thais to purchase a lottery ticket at a price not exceeding 80 baht, Mr Thanavath said.
The office for decades has been trying to curb the influence of powerful groups that control ticket distribution and sales, leading to overpricing. Mr Thanavath said its latest effort consists of three phases.
The first phase is to enforce the law and the second phase is to have the lottery distribution system run through the advance purchase-booking project, resulting in tickets being better spread out among distributors nationwide.
“Currently, we are in the third phase of solving the problem sustainably and fairly, which is the introduction of the digital six-digit government lottery tickets … via the Pao Tang application, with each ticket going for 80 baht. This service is proving popular,” said Mr Thanavath.
Currently, the highest sales volume is 24 million e-tickets per round, from the starting point of 5 million per round in 2022.
Three-digit lottery tickets are seen as another way to tackle overpriced tickets because some buyers cannot purchase the numbers they want, so they agree to buy tickets above the market price or opt for underground markets.
Lt Col Noon Sansanakom, the GLO director, said each three-digit ticket will cost 20 baht, and purchasers will be able to select any number between 000 and 999.
Every ticket is eligible to win prizes in one of four categories: 3-digit straight, 3-digit alternating, 2-digit straight, and special prizes, based on the results of the twice-monthly GLO draws.
The GLO will launch a six-month trial of the three-digit tickets, starting with sales on Oct 17 for the draw on Nov 1.
The three-digit tickets will not yet be available via the Pao Tang app but through 400 shops nationwide that participate in the project to sell regular tickets at 80 baht. Payment can be made via digital methods only, said Lt Col Noon. Winners can claim their prices via the app.
Sales data, the impact on customers and distributors, and the impact on the sale of digital six-digittickets will be collected during the test period. Full sales of the three-digit tickets will begin in April 2025, he said.