Thailand Scraps Online Lottery Plans, May Face Lawsuit

Posted: January 4, 2010

Updated: October 4, 2017

Strict Thai gambling laws prohibit most forms of gambling in the country, both online and offline. The one exception is the National Lottery

Strict Thai gambling laws prohibit most forms of gambling in the country, both online and offline. The one exception is the National Lottery, which has been struggling to gain a foothold since for several years. This official lottery project was initiated by the government in 2005 as an attempt to squelch a growing underground lottery system that had been plaguing Thailand.

The project faced severe delays. Both legal problems and strong social opposition both slowed down the launch of the project. Then in 2006, the government that initiated the lottery was ousted, and the project has been struggling ever since. The largest problem that the National Lottery faces is vendors overcharging for tickets and pocketing the excess funds.

Plans to move the lottery online have been in the works for months. Allowing players to purchase lottery tickets on the internet would eliminate the problem of vendors overcharging. The current administration, however, recently announced plans to scrap the online lottery project entirely. The company in charge of the project, Loxley GTECH Technology, has their lawyers researching the implications of filing a lawsuit against the Thai government, should the decision become final.

The current government is concerned with the social implications of allowing the National Lottery to move online, and will spend the next few weeks discussing possibilities. The online lottery would be the first and only legal online gambling site in Thailand. No other licenses have ever been discussed, since most other forms of gambling are illegal in the country. Despite this lack of variety, players in Thailand face little opposition when gambling at foreign-hosted gambling websites, since the Thai government does not actively work to prevent players from gambling on the internet.

Tags: