ENGLISH DEYEA NEWS

By KYI WAI | RANGOON — The price of a Burmese lottery ticket will be doubled in order to raise revenues starting with the No. 240 lucky draw in January, 2009, according to the Finance and Taxes Department.

Burmese lottery tickets are advertised at a commercial retail outlet in Rangoon. (Photo: The Irrawaddy)

After January, a regular lottery ticket will cost 200 kyat (US 0.20 cents). Tickets with favorite words or numbers could cost anywhere from 50 to 100 kyat or more, after being marked up by wholesalers and retailers.

The new pay off for the first prize winning ticket will increase to 100,000,000 kyat (US $ 79,050) from 50,000,000 kyat. The lowest prize will win 100,000 kyat, according to state-run newspapers.

''Purchasing lottery tickets is like paying a special tax,'' said a retired professor at the Economic Institute. ''The gross revenue of the lottery will double because the lottery ticket price increases two times.

The price increase in lottery tickets is the latest sign that inflation is affecting both the government and consumers. Many businesses have laid off workers recently, and the economic sector is expected to continue to suffer as a result of the worldwide economic slowdown.

“Trying to entice the people into the lottery is just a form of gambling, and it’s not good for the country,'' said the professor, who noted there are also illegal lotteries that take place daily and bi-monthly.

Before 1988, a lottery ticket cost 2 kyat; the price increased to 5 kyat on December 20, 1988; and 10 kyat in April 1991. In December 1998, the price increased to 50 kyat and doubled in November 2005 to 100 kyat.

A man and a woman inspect lottery tickets at a street vendor’s establishment in Rangoon. (Photo: Yuzo/The Irrawaddy)

The government keeps 40 percent of the gross from the lottery, and 60 is distributed in winnings, according to the sources at the Finance and Taxes Department.

The professor said gross income from the state lottery is third, behind regular income taxes and trade taxes.

In a recent lottery, 26.9 million tickets were distributed in one lucky draw. Wholesalers and retailers buy tickets from the government for resale, making anywhere from 50 kyat or higher per ticket.

Wholesale distributors warned that doubling the cost of a ticket could hurt overall lottery sales, at a time when the state lottery is already experiencing a decline in sales.

''If the ticket price becomes too high, purchasing power will be lowered and that will cut into wholesalers’ and retailers’ profits,'' he said. “So we are forced to invest more money than previously.''