Parliament has taken further action regarding selling lottery tickets for more than the set price, an offence that can result in a fine of up to K5 million.
This law was originally proposed as part of a larger anti-gambling law, but the government did not want the lottery classified as gambling, so it was reintroduced separately as a way to eliminate the black market for lottery tickets.
Dr Maung Maung Thein, deputy minister for finance, said, “This law has been passed after the main distributers of lottery tickets failed to comply with our repeated warnings. Our main intention is to eliminate the black market.”
U Tin Than Oo, a business and law expert, suggested that instead of taking action against marking up the regulated price, more action should be made on setting a fair price that will be beneficial for both the main company and retailers.
“Behind the scenes, companies that sell lottery tickets wholesale are having good business growth, because when the lottery tickets are sold in larger quantities, they make a fair profit.”
