Thai Online Lottery Under Threat

Tuesday 5 January, 2010 17:07

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The news that the Thai Government is taking concrete steps to scrap the country's online lottery has been met with much criticism by a number of parties.

The government has established a work panel to examine how the online lottery can be brought to an end without involving the Lottery Office in legal wrangles.

The government remains bound by a contract signed with concessionaire Loxley GTech Technology and the panel will be ordered to find a way to reach an alternative agreement with Loxley.

The Chief Executive Officer of Loxley, Treejak Tansupasiri said that his company is studying its "legal position".

"It is not yet final or certain the online lottery will be abolished," said Tansupasiri. "We will only wait and see. But whatever will be, will be. Society will make its decision on whether it will need an online lottery."

Regarding legal action, the CEO said: "As the vendor who has invested in this project we cannot say if a lawsuit will be lodged against the government if it decided to abolish the project, but Loxley's legal division is studying legal options over the issue."

Loxley has spent millions developing the online lottery system.

The first online lottery operation is due to launch in March, despite a government decision to begin the project as far back as 2006.

The opposition party criticized the Prime Minister's move and said that illegal lottery operators would flourish if a regulated alternative was not introduced by the government.

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