Regional News
Thailand’s Lottery Office Says Bt10.4 Billion in Prize Money Unclaimed
Thailand’s Government Lottery Office (GLO) has reported more than 10.4 Billion Baht (US$343 Million) in prize money has gone unclaimed over the past 10 years.
While some couldn’t collect their winnings because they lost their tickets, “most of them failed to check the lottery results carefully enough”, a source told the Bangkok Post.
The people only checked to see if they had won the top prizes for two and three digits. Consequently ignoring less popular categories, including the fifth prize worth 10,000 baht.
Cursing their luck when it came to big prizes, “they immediately throw away their tickets the source said.
By law, unclaimed prizes must be collected within two years of the lottery draw, said GLO’s chief Bunsong Chanthrisi.
He advised people to check their tickets against the winning numbers carefully. Saying they risk losing out on their right to prizes.
The source also revealed a sharp increase in unclaimed prize money has swelled state coffers. Even more to the tune of billions of baht since last year.
By comparison, between 2012 and 2017, unclaimed lottery prizes totalled only about 650-800 million baht per year.
The government has also raked in higher revenue from lottery sales since 2016. Because ticket numbers were increased to 100 million for the bi-weekly lottery draw.
This year’s lottery revenue has hit 41.9 billion baht, the source said.
Anybody can play and win the state lottery in Thailand, you don’t have to be Thai. The results of the lottery are announced on the 1st and 16th of every month and prizes must be claimed within two years of the draw and they are subject to 0.5% tax.
