A lottery seller in Bangkok, Thailand.

The Thailand Government Lottery Office supplies the same tickets with two different prices, and confusion is driving buyers away.

This is affecting part-time lottery sellers - something many of them have been doing for more than 30 years.

But residents of Wang Saphung district in Loei province are determined to continue their part-time work as lottery vendors.

The vendors, most of whom also have full-time jobs as farmers and fruit and vegetable planters, pick up the lottery tickets either in Bangkok or from agents at the district's marke.

They travel in several provinces by bicycle or motorcycle to sell their tickets, before returning home after the lottery results are announced twice a month, on the 1st and 16th.

Amphin Charoenthong, a 67-year-old resident from tambon Sai Khao, said she would continue selling the tickets until she turned 80, after already having been a seller for 19 years.

She described it as an honest job through which she could obtain a number of belongings and earn money to fund her children's education.

Lottery-stall owner Aimprapha Pholrung, meanwhile, said her sales had dropped since the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) began controlling the retail price at Bt80 (about US$2.50) each for special-quota tickets.

She continues to operate her stall - even selling general-quota tickets at only Bt81 for just a Bt1 profit - in order to try to make ends meet and cover regular household costs.

A 63-year-old former lottery seller identified only as "Mian", who now lives in Wang Saphung district, said she had to walk for some 10 kilometres a day to sell the tickets, and that it was difficult to make sales because the tickets were considered by customers as expensive. She would explain that her own retail price was unavoidable due to the high price charged by her supplier.

"Sometimes I had to reduce the price to cost price in order to sell all the tickets on my tray. I had to finish the whole tray, or else I wouldn't have any profit at all," she added.

Rachan Pholsa, a retail vendor, said the pricing of tickets at between Bt80 and Bt90 had earned him and fellow vendors Bt10 per for a pair of tickets.

There are now large stocks of tickets left over, he said, which is a burden on vendors, especially those who travel long distances by bicycle to sell the tickets across many provinces, while the inconsistent rates also deter buyers.

Rachan added that he may quit selling lottery tickets in the near future, but he wanted to "keep fighting on" in the meantime.

SOURCE: Boonchu Sritripop, Nation