Mizzima News

Rangoon: The junta plans to launch a new lottery. The highest prize in the lottery will be Kyat 100 million. The launch is in August, said an official of the State Lottery Department on Friday.

"Planned since the end of the 2007-2008 fiscal year, it is still a secret," said the official, who requested not to be named.

Immediate publicity of such a move could lead to speculations and an upsurge in consumer prices and inflation, which the population has been suffering over several decades given the country's poor economy mismanaged by the military regime.

The new lottery scheme is not expected to result in an increase of  the present price of buying a lottery coupon – Kyat 100, said the official, adding that the number of coupons issued has gradually swelled over 12 months.

He also said the increased number of coupons implied the government is in desperate need of revenue.

After the launch of the new lottery scheme, the regime is likely to take stronger action against lottery dealers who award extra cash to lottery winners, said a Rangoon-based dealer.

The new scheme could be another burden as the population is already involved in illegal gambling by two-or three-digit lottery dealers, who refer to the numbers arising daily in the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), a lottery observer said.