ONLINE GAMBLING / Loxley threatens B2bn suit unless lottery launched
Written by Writer on Wednesday, November 12th, 2008
ONLINE GAMBLING / Loxley threatens B2bn suit unless lottery launched
KOMSAN TORTERMVASANA
Loxley yesterday threatened to file a two-billion-baht lawsuit against the Government Lottery Office if it fails to launch the new online lottery within the next 30 days.
At a press conference held by Loxley Gtech Technology (LGT), a joint venture between Loxley and Gtech of the United States, chief executive officer Trichakr Tansuphasiri said LGT was awarded a contract to provide the online lottery service back on July 29, 2005 and had already invested a lot of money on installing about 6,000 online lottery machines nationwide.
But until today, he said, the service could still not be launched due to the uncertain policy of the state, causing financial damage to the company.
He said the GLO has 30 days to start the online lottery sales or legal action would be taken against it and a lawsuit filed to demand two billion baht in compensation for the damage caused.
He said LGT was paying monthly interest of 10 million baht on a big loan it had taken to implement the scheme, and was also burdened by the wages of the staff employed to handle the project.
Mr Trichakr said the joint venture firm was promised by the former government that it would be allowed to sell online lottery tickets one year after the signing of the contract in 2005.
He recalled that when Surapong Suebwonglee was finance minister, his firm again received a pledge it would be able to sell online lottery tickets in September this year, citing the implementation of Article 22 of the Lottery Ticket Law.
However, after facing allegations of corruption, Mr Surapong was forced to turn over the political hot potato to Deputy Finance Minister Pradit Patharaprasit to handle. Mr Pradit later sought a ruling from the Council of State over whether the GLO could sell online lottery tickets, Mr Trichakr said.
The council ruled in favour of the GLO, but uncertain emerged again after the finance minister was replaced, he said. The new minister first promised to treat the matter with urgency, but later changed his mind and decided not to support the project.
“We are very confused,” he said.
He said the government should know that it was already too late for it to say the online lottery scheme was inappropriate as the contract had been signed and a U-turn by the government would only deal a serious blow to investor confidence.
Many small-time lottery dealers are also in trouble because they were invited by the government to invest in the project. Some have invested more than 500,000 baht, said Mr Trichakr.
If the government went ahead with the project, it stood to earn three billion baht from each draw or 72 billion baht a month. Any further delay would hurt his firm more financially, he added.
Bangkok Post
Wednesday November 12, 2008
